


Beacon Hills is a Supernatural Shitshow: Season 1

by MultiFandomWitch



Series: Beacon Hills is a Supernatural Shitshow [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: (AKA Stydia/Styall), Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Bisexual Jackie Whittemore, Bisexual Jackson Whittemore, Bisexual Scott McCall, Bisexual Skylar McCall, Bisexual Stiles Stilinski, But at first it sticks pretty closely to canon, But there will be changes, Canon Rewrite, Canonical character deaths will probably still happen tho, Endgame Scisaac, F/F, F/M, Genderbending, Hinted Sterek/Sterrine, Introspection, Kinda follows canon, M/M, Pre-Slash, Scallison/Skarthur is not endgame, Skylar McCall speaks Spanish, Stiles Stilinski Speaks Polish, Unrequited Crush, Warning: Kate Argent, Warning: Kurt Argent, but that's later, scott mccall speaks Spanish, there will be more changes the longer I go on, trust me - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 53,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28889199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MultiFandomWitch/pseuds/MultiFandomWitch
Summary: The story of an everyday high school student named Skylar, whose life is changed forever when she is bitten by a werewolf. With heightened senses and new-found strength, she becomes the star lacrosse player and attracts the attention of Arthur - the new guy at school whose mother just so happens to be a werewolf hunter.AKA: I'm genderbending and rewriting the Teen Wolf series.
Relationships: Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Arthur Argent/Skylar McCall, Lyall Martin/Jackie Whittemore, Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore, Temporary One-Sided Lyall Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Temporary One-Sided Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Beacon Hills is a Supernatural Shitshow [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118609
Kudos: 2





	1. Wolf Moon

**Author's Note:**

> I went overboard with the tags, so they basically explain everything about this. Guys, I'm just having fun.
> 
> In the beginning, this is mainly going to be canon, only with a few extra scenes and lines added in and with more insight into the characters' thought processes. Later on is when I really start to change things.
> 
> At first there's going to be a lot of Scallison and one!sided Stydia and some Jydia, like in canon, but none of these ships are endgame. I ship Scisaac and Sterek and Jethan, and those are going to be endgame, but not until much later.
> 
> Also, it always sorta bugged me that they never addressed Scott ethnicity, but he's biracial (Melissa's maiden name is Delgado).

Skylar McCall sat down on her bed with a huff, mentally going over everything she could do to get ready for lacrosse season. The qualifying game was the next day, and she had to be prepared. She was _going_ to make first-line that year if it _killed her_. She jumped as her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden noise outside. She pulled on a t-shirt and pulled a bat out from under her bed, holding it firmly as she crept downstairs and out the front door. A figure fell from the roof, screaming, and Skylar screamed right back for a moment, preparing to hit it with her bat, before recognizing it.

“Stiles, what the hell are you doing?” She demanded of her best friend, who was hanging upside-down from the roof by her ankle.

“You weren’t answering your phone!” The short-haired girl said, voice oddly high pitched. “Why do you have a bat?” She was still hanging by her ankle.

“I thought you were a predator,” Skylar admitted, now feeling a bit foolish. Of _course_ it was Stiles. It was always Stiles.

“A pre-” She wheezed. “Look, I know it’s late, but you have _got_ to hear this,” She finally freed her ankle, falling from the roof and hitting the ground. As she stood up, she started talking again. “My mom left twenty minutes ago, dispatch call. They're bringing in every officer of the Beacon department, and the state police,” She sounded oddly excited, but Skylar didn’t understand why. She loved Stiles, she really did, but with every word out of her mouth, Skylar’s feeling of dread worsened.

“For what?” Skylar asked reluctantly, knowing that Stiles was going to tell her anyway.

“They found a body in the woods,” And _there_ it is.

“A dead body?” Skylar asked in astonishment and fear.

“No, a body of water,” Stiles laid the sarcasm on thick. “Yes, dumbass, a dead body,”

“You mean like… murdered?” Skylar was beginning to panic.

“Nobody knows yet,” Stiles conceded. “It was a man, probably in his twenties…”

“Hold on,” Skylar interrupted, confused. “If they found the body, what’re they looking for?”

“That’s the best part,” Her best friend answered and Skylar knew she was going to hate this part. “They only found half,”

~

Somehow, despite her vehement refusal to go searching for the other half of the body, Skylar found herself standing with Stiles at the entrance to the Beacon Hills Preserve, preparing to go searching for the other half of the body.

“We’re seriously doing this?” Skylar questioned, terrified.

“You’re the one who’s always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town,” Stiles pointed out, and damn it, she had a point. The two of them started walking, flashlight illuminating the forest in front of them. 

“I was trying to get a good night’s sleep for practice tomorrow,” Skylar complained, and Stiles snorted.

“Right, because it takes _so much effort_ to sit on the bench and do nothing,” She stated with extreme sarcasm.

“ _No,_ ” The Latina emphasized. “Because... Because I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm playing first-line,” Stiles snorted again.

“Hey, that's a spirit. Everyone should have a dream. Even if it's an unrealistic one,” The two girls walked in silence for a moment before Skylar spoke again.

“Just… for curiosity’s sake, which half of the body are we looking for?” Stiles hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Huh... I didn't even think about that,” Skylar smiled, amused despite herself.

“And… um… What if whoever _killed_ the body is still out here?” She asked and Stiles stopped walking.

“I hadn’t thought of that either,” They continued their trek through the dark trees.

“It's _really_ comforting to know that you planned this with your usual attention to details,” She teased her friend playfully and Stiles agreed, laughing. Suddenly, Skylar began to struggle to breathe. She stopped, pulling out her inhaler. “Maybe the _asthmatic_ should be the one to carry the flashlight,” She suggested as she caught up with Stiles, but Stiles pulled her to the ground as a police officer walked by. The two of them looked at each other and Stiles took off running, Skylar jogging way behind, struggling to catch up. Stiles, of course, ran right into a police officer. Just before the officer could question her, a voice carried from behind him and Skylar hid behind a tree.

“Hang on,” Sheriff Stilinski sounded resigned. “This little delinquent belongs to me,”

“Hey, mom,” Stiles’ voice rose a bit. “How’re you doing?”

“So, do you listen in on _all_ my phone calls?” The sheriff questioned.

“No!” She denied, and her mother gave her a look. “Not the boring ones,” The sheriff sighed and several Beacon Hills officers shared looks from behind them. Stiles’ antics were well-known around the precinct.

“So, where’s your usual partner-in-crime?” The sheriff asked.

“Who, Skylar?” Stiles inquired rhetorically. “Skylar’s at home. She said she wanted to get a good night’s sleep for the first day of school tomorrow. It’s just me... Wandering… In the woods... Alone…” The sheriff sighed, shining her flashlight into the tree.

“Skylar, you out there? Skylar?” She paused for a moment before turning away from the trees and grabbing her daughter’s shoulder. “Well, young lady,” She told Stiles. “I'm gonna walk you back to your car, and you and I, we're gonna have a discussion about something called ‘violation of privacy,’”

Skylar took the long way home, wanting to avoid the officers. She stopped for a moment, pulling out her inhaler once again, but before she could use it, a herd of deer ran right at her, making her jump and causing her to drop it. Once they were gone, Skylar shone the flashlight at the ground, searching for her missing inhaler. Before she could find it, however, the light from the flashlight irradiated the missing half of the dead body, and she jumped back. 

Skylar slipped on the leaves and tumbled down the steep slope behind her, coming to rest at the bottom. As she stood, she was pounced on and bitten by a large, dark creature. She ran out into the road, barely avoiding getting hit by a dark red SUV, and the creature disappeared. As she continued on her way home, she heard howling in the distance.

~

Jackie Whittemore climbed out of her porsche, hitting Skylar with the door and telling her to watch the paint. Skylar brushed the encounter off, turning to Stiles.

“So, let’s see it,” The girl said, and Skylar lifted her shirt to show the bite mark from the night before.

“It was too dark to see much, but I think it was a wolf,” The Latina told her best friend, who immediately disagreed.

“A wolf bit you? No, not a chance,”

“I heard a wolf howling,”

“No, you didn’t” Stiles disagreed once more.

“What do you mean I didn't, how do you know what I heard?”

“Because there haven’t been any wolves in California in, like, sixty years,” Skylar paused, confused.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really,” The two girls stared at each other. “Look, there are _no wolves_ in California,”

“Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe when I tell you I found the body,” Stiles beamed.

“Are you kidding me?” The Polish girl asked excitedly, and Skylar shuddered.

“I wish,” She frowned. “I’m gonna be having nightmares about it for at _least_ a month,”

“That is so freaking awesome,” Stiles somehow managed to smile harder and a red-haired teenage boy walked past them “I mean seriously, this is the best thing to happen in this town since… the birth of Lyall Martin!” She looked over at the boy walking past them. “Hey, Lyall! You look… Like you’re gonna ignore me,” Lyall entered the school without even sparing a glance. “You’re the cause of this, you know that?” Stiles said to Skylar playfully. “Dragging me down your nerd depth! I'm a nerd by association. I’ve been scarlet nerd-ed!”

~

Sitting at their desks, the students all watched the teacher write something on the board. The woman turned around and addressed the teenagers sitting in front of her.

“As you all know, there was a body found in the woods last night,” The teacher began, and Skylar turned to look at Stiles, who smiled. “And I am sure your little eagle minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios for what happened. But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody,” Once again, Skylar looked at Stiles, who shrugged, clueless. “Which means that you can give all your attention to the program on your desk,” The students all groaned and did as they were told, but Skylar stopped as she heard a phone ringing. She looked around the classroom, but no one else seemed to be able to hear it. When she looked out the classroom window, she could hear the brunet boy outside talking on his phone.

“Dad, three calls before school has even started is over-doing it, just a bit,” The boy pointed out. “Everything except a pen. Oh my god actually forgot a pen!” The boy seemed a bit panicked. “Okay, I gotta go, dad. I love you,” He hung up the phone and Skylar listened as the principal escorted him through the school and to the same classroom she was in. What are the chances, right?

“Class, this is our new student, Arthur Argent,” Arthur gave them all a small wave as the principal introduced him. “Please do the best to make him feel welcome,” The principal left, and Arthur was directed to the seat behind Skylar, who offered him a pen.

“Thanks,” He said to her, surprised.

~

Lyall approached Arthur at his locker, wanting to meet the new kid everyone was talking about. Beacon Hills was a small town and the high school rarely ever got new students from out of town.

“Okay, that jacket is totally killer,” He complimented the other boy. “Where did you get it?”

“My dad was a buyer for a boutique in San Francisco,” Arthur told the ginger, who loudly stated that Arthur was his new best friend. Jackie appeared beside Lyall, kissing him lightly and wrapping an arm around his waist.

“How is it that a guy who’s been here for five minutes is already in with Lyall’s clique?” A boy asked Stiles.

“Because he’s hot,” Stiles answered. “Beautiful people flock together,” Across the hall, Lyall continued his conversation with Arthur.

“So, this weekend. There’s a party,”

“A party?” Arthur inquired.

“Yeah, Friday night,” Jackie chimed in. “You should come,”

“Oh, I can’t,” The brunet told them. “I have family night on Friday. But thanks for asking,”

“You sure?” Jackie asked. “Everyone's going after the game,”

“You mean, like, football?” Arthur questioned and the other two teens laughed.

“Football is a joke here,” The beautiful girl told her boyfriend’s self-proclaimed best friend. “The sport _here_ is lacrosse. We won the national championship last year,” She stated proudly.

“Because of the team captain,” Lyall complimented his girlfriend, kissing her.

“We have practice in a few minutes,” She told Arthur. “If you don’t have anything else to do…”

“Well, I was going to-” Lyall cut him off.

“Perfect! Come on,”

~

“Okay, but if you play, I won’t have anyone to talk to on the bench,” Stiles told Skylar. Both of them were dressed in lacrosse gear and marching across the field.

“I _can’t_ stay out again,” Skylar tells her best friend, desperate. “I spend my entire life on the sidelines. I can’t do it anymore. This year… I make first-line,” She looks over at the bleachers, smiling as Arthur sat down. He smiled back at her.

“McCall!” Coach Finstock yelled, and Skylar startled. 

“Yeah, Coach?”

“You’re in goal,” The lacrosse coach told her.

“I’ve never played in…” She trailed off.

“I know,” Finstock acknowledged. “Scoring some shots will help with confidence. It's a first-day thing!”

“What about me?” 

“Try not to take too many to the face,” Ah, Coach. Just as comforting as ever, which is to say, not at all. The woman turned to the rest of the players. “Let’s go! Come on!” Up in the stands, Arthur turned towards Lyall.

“Who is that?” He asked, pointing at Skylar, who, for some reason, could hear their conversation from the field.

“Her?” Lyall questioned. “I don’t know her. Why?”

“She’s in my English class,” 

Coach blew her whistle and the sound seemed to shatter Skylar’s eardrums. She clutched at her ears as the first player threw the ball, which hit her in the head. As many on the field laughed, Skylar started to get angry. She blocked the next shot. And the next. Everyone stopped laughing, surprised and impressed.

“She seems pretty good,” Arthur remarked to Lyall, who was in shocked agreement. Jackie headed up, trying to seem intimidating, but Skylar blocked her shot too. Everyone applauded, even Lyall, but Jackie seemed pissed.

~

Skylar and Stiles walked together through the same woods they had been prowling the night before, now illuminated by daylight.

“I don’t know what it was!” Skylar said to her best friend. “It was like… Like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball! And that's not the only weird thing. I hear things I shouldn't be able to hear, I smell things-”

“You smell things?” Stiles interrupted, intrigued. “Like what?”

“Like the mint mojito gum in your pocket,”

“Mint mojito- I don’t have any mint-” She reached into her pocket to find the gum that Skylar had just said she could smell. “So, what started all of this was the bite!”

“What if it’s, like, an infection or something?” Skylar asked, slightly panicked. “Like... my body is full of adrenaline before a shock or something…”

“You know what?” Stiles discontinued her best friend’s blind frenzy. “I think I’ve heard of this,”

“You have?” Skylar halted.

“It’s a specific kind of infection,”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Stiles struggled not to laugh. “Yeah, it’s called ‘lycanthropy’,”

“What is that?” Skylar asked, panicked. “Is it bad?”

“Very bad. But only once a month, the night of the full moon,” Skylar looked at Stiles, confused, and Stiles let out a little howl. Skylar hit her in the arm. She laughed for a moment before helping her friend search the ground.

“You’re the one who heard a wolf!” Stiles pointed out, still snickering a bit. 

“It’s not funny!” Skylar protested, brown eyes wide. “There’s something seriously wrong with me!”

“I know! You’re a werewolf!” Skylar gave her a look. “Okay, okay, but if you see me melting all the silver I can find, it’s because the full moon’s on Friday,”

“ I could’ve sworn it was here!” Skylar said, looking at the ground. “There were stags, and I saw the body… I dropped my inhaler,”

“Maybe the killer moved the body,” Stiles suggested. 

“If they did, I hope they didn’t take my inhaler,” Skylar said. “Those things cost, like, eighty bucks,” A dark-haired woman wearing a leather jacket approached the two teenagers, and Stiles stared, recognizing her.

“What are you doing here?” The woman demanded. “This is private property,”

“Um… Sorry… We didn’t know,” Stiles told her.

“Yeah, we were just… Looking for something…” Skylar trailed off. “Forget it,” She sounded resigned, but the woman reached into her pocket and pulled out the inhaler, throwing it to Skylar and walking away.

“Okay,” She looked down at the inhaler in her hands, slightly thrown. “Well, I have to go to work,”

“Dude, that was _Derrine Hale_ ,” Stiles said to her best friend. “You remember, don’t you? She’s only a few years older than us,”

“Remember what?” Skylar asked, and Stiles sighed.

“Her family. They all died in a house fire six years ago. She left right after,”

“What’s she doing back?” Stiles shrugged at Skylar’s question.

~

Skylar flipped the sign hanging on the door of the Animal Clinic from OPEN to CLOSED and headed into the back room. She removed her bandages to disinfect her wound but found that it was completely healed. She shook it off, heading in to feed the cats, but she quickly backed out of the room when all the cats hissed at her. She sat for a moment before she heard pounding on the door. She headed into the front entrance to see Arthur, standing in the rain, crying. She rushed to open the door.

“I didn’t see it!” He exclaimed when she opened the door. “I took my eyes off the road for two seconds to change the music on my iPod and this dog, it just came out of nowhere!”

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” She comforted him. “Do you remember where it happened, so that I can find the dog?”

“No!” Arthur told her. “I mean, yes, I know where I hit it but the dog is…”

“Where?” Skylar asked. “Where is it?”

“It’s in my car,” Arthur took Skylar out to his car and opened the trunk. The dog started barking.

“You okay?” Skylar asked. “He’s just afraid,” She told Arthur, who laughed nervously.

“That makes two of us,”

“Let’s see if I have any better luck,” Skylar said, bending over the dog. When she looked him in the eyes, her own glowed a bright gold, and the dog calmed. Her eyes went back to their original color before Arthur could notice, and Skylar herself didn’t realize what had happened. She picked up the dog and carried it into the clinic, Arthur holding the door open for her. “I think his leg is broken. I’ve seen the doc make splints, I can do it myself and give him antibiotics,” He looked at Arthur, who seemed to be shivering in his wet clothes. “I have a sweatshirt in my bag,” she told him. “It’s huge on me, so it should fit you,”

“I don’t want to trouble you,” He told her, but she shook her head. 

“Here,” She pulled the sweatshirt out of her bag, handing it to Arthur. He left the room to put it on and let Skylar work on the dog. She glanced out the window and saw Arthur take off his shirt, staring at his naked back for a moment. He turned back to the dog, who looked back at her. “What? I didn’t see anything,” 

“Thanks for doing this,” Said Arthur, coming back into the room. “I feel so stupid,”

“Why?” 

“I don’t know,” Arthur snorted. “Because I freaked out like a kid?”

“Technically you are a kid,” Skylar pointed out. “We both are,”

“Yeah, but I’m tougher than that,” He looked down. “Or at least… I thought I was,”

“Hey, I’d be pretty freaked, too,” She admitted to him. “I would probably cry. And not, like, a pretty cry,” She clarified. “A really ugly cry with snot and stuff,” She laughed. “It would be pathetic,” Arthur laughed with her. “I’m pretty sure he’d let you pet him now if you want,” She gestured towards the dog.

“Oh no, definitely not,”

“Oh, come on,” Skylar said to him and he caved, carefully stroking the dog’s fur. The dog stayed calm. “See, he likes you,” She stared at him.

“What?” She startled. 

“Sorry, you just… you have an eyelash…” She reached out and brushed an eyelash off her cheek. They stared at each other for another moment.

“You know, you’re really good with animals,” Arthur told Skylar, and she blushed.

“Thanks,” She said, pushing her dark hair behind her ear. “I actually want to be a veterinarian when I get older, so…”

“Really?” Arthur asked. Skylar nodded. 

“It’s really a good thing that the animals all like me. Except for today. The cats all seem to hate me today,” The two of them laughed and continued to pet the dog. Later, they walked together to Arthur’s car, this time without the dog. “So, I was wondering, I mean... Is it really family night on Friday? Or you think maybe you'd like to go to that party with me?”

“I have to admit, that was a total lie,” He laughed.

“So is that a yes?” Skylar asked, hopeful.

“Definitely yes,” Arthur confirmed, and they beamed at each other.

~

Skylar woke up in the woods, which was confusing since she had been sure that she had fallen asleep in her bed. As she stood up, she noticed an animal peering at her through the trees and she took off running. In her rush, she jumped a fence and found herself in a pool. She swam back to the surface and gasped for air, looking around. 

“Morning!” She said brightly to the confused woman watering her flowers.

~

“Where are you getting your juice?” Jackie demanded as she cornered Skylar in the locker room.

“What?” Skylar asked, confused.

“Where are you getting your juice,” The taller girl repeated, slower. This did nothing to ease Skylar’s confusion.

“My mom does all the grocery shopping,” She answered, not getting it.

“Listen, McCall,” Jackie said, frustrated with her obliviousness. “You are going to tell me what it is and who you are buying it from because there is no way you can suddenly go out on the field and kick our asses like that without a chemical boost,”

“Oh, you’re talking about steroids!” Skylar finally got it. “Are you on steroids?” Nope, still confused.

“What the hell is going on with you, McCall?” Jackie demanded, and the Latina finally snapped.

“What's going on with me? You really wanna know?” She asked. “Well, so do I! Because I can see, hear and smell things that I shouldn't be able to see, hear and smell! I do things that shouldn't be possible, I sleepwalked three miles in the middle of the woods and I'm pretty much convinced that I'm totally out of my freaking mind!”

“You think you’re funny, don’t you, McCall?” Jackie was pissed. “I know you’re hiding something. And I’m going to figure it out. I don’t care how long it takes,” She slammed her hand into the locker next to Skylar’s head and stormed out.

~

“Skylar!” Stiles ran after her friend. “Skylar, wait up!”

“It’s tryouts, can’t this wait?” She asked the Polish girl, who shook her head.

“Just hold on, alright?” She told Skylar. “I heard my mom on the phone. They found animal hair on the body,”

“I gotta go,” Skylar told her.

“Sky, wait!” Stiles called after Skylar. “You’re not gonna believe this what animal it was!” Skylar walked away, not hearing Stiles. “It was a wolf!”

“Let’s go, gather around,” Coach called out, and everyone joined a huddle around her. Arthur sat down in the bleachers, waving at Skylar, who waved back. “You got a question, McCall?” Coach asked, and Skylar jumped.

“What?” She gawked at her coach.

“You raised your hand. Do you have a question?”

“Oh, no, Coach, I was just… um… nothing,” She blushed. “Sorry,”

“Okay,” Coach stared at Skylar for a moment before continuing. “You know how this goes. If you don't make the cut, you stay on the bleachers for the rest of the season. You make the cut, you're playing! Your parents are proud. Your boyfriend loves you! Everything else is uh... cream cheese. Now get out there and show me what you've got!” The players all cheered loudly.

Skylar was tackled by Jackie almost immediately, but she recovered even quicker. She got possession of the ball and sprinted toward the goal, dodging players and performing a perfect flip to score between the goalie’s legs.

“McCall!” Coach yelled. “Get over here!” Skylar jogged over. “What was that? This a lacrosse field! What, are you trying out for gymnastics?”

“No, Coach,” Skylar answered.

“What was that?” The woman demanded.

“I don’t know, I was just trying to make the shot,”

“Yeah, well, you made the shot,” Coach pointed out. “And guess what? You made first-line,” All the players cheered and clapped for Skylar, but Stiles stood off to the side, chewing her lip. She was getting really worried.

~

Stiles sat at her desk in her room, researching. The screen displayed dozens of resources on lycanthropy, wolfsbane, and silver, among other things. Skylar knocked on her door and Stiles slammed the computer shut.

“Get in,” She told the Latina, closing the door behind her. “You have to see this, I’ve been up all night researching. Websites, books, all those things…”

“How much Adderall have you had today?” Skylar inquired, concerned for her friend.

“A lot. Doesn’t matter, just listen,” Stiles told her, and Skylar sat down on Stiles’ bed.

“Is this about the body? Did you find who it is?” Stiles shook her head.

“No, they’re still questioning people. A lot of people. Including Derrine Hale,”

“The lady in the woods?” Skylar asked, and Stiles nodded.

“Yeah, but that’s not it, okay?”

“What then?” Skylar asked, not understanding why Stiles seemed so panicked.

“Remember that joke I made the other day? It's not a joke anymore,” Skylar stared at her blankly, not getting it. “The wolf, the bite in the woods! Do you know why a wolf howls?” Skylar shook her head. “It's a signal! Okay? When a wolf is alone and howls, it’s signaling its location to the rest of the pack! So if you heard it, maybe you're not the only one, maybe there's a whole pack of wolves,”

“A whole pack of wolves…?” Skylar was starting to get concerned for Stiles’ sanity.

“No, werewolves,” Stiles clarified. Skylar stared at her friend like she was completely nuts.

“Are you seriously wasting my time with this? You know I'm picking up Arthur in an hour,” Skylar was starting to get angry.

“I saw you on the fields today Scott. What you did wasn't just amazing, alright? It was impossible!” Stiles was nearly shouting now, trying to get her friend to understand how dire the situation was.

“I just made a good shot!” Skylar protested.

“No, you made an incredible shot! I mean, the way you moved, your speed, your reflexes? Y'know, people can't just suddenly learn to do that overnight,” Stiles pointed out. “And there's the vision, and the senses, and don't even think I didn’t notice that you don't need your inhaler anymore-” Skylar cut her off.

“I can't think about this now, we'll talk tomorrow,” Skylar stood up from her seat on Stiles’ bed.

“What? No!” Stiles protested. “Sky, the full moon is _tonight!_ ”

“What are you trying to do?” Skylar asked angrily. “I made first-line, I have a date with a guy who I can't believe wants to go out with me, everything in my life is somehow perfect, why are you trying to ruin it?”

“I'm trying to help! You're cursed, Skylar. You know, and it's not just that the moon will cause you to physically change. It also just so happens to be when your bloodlust will be at its peak,”

“Bloodlust?” The Latina repeated incredulously.

“Your urge to kill,”

“I’m already feeling the urge to kill, Stiles,” She told the short-haired girl.

“You have to hear this,” Stiles picked up a book and began to read. “The change is caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse. I've never seen someone raising your pulse like Arthur does! You've got to cancel this date. I call him right now,” She picked up Skylar’s phone.

“What are you _doing?_ ” 

“Cancelling this date!”

“No!” Skylar protested, reaching for her phone. “Give me that!” She pinned Stiles against a wall, almost punching her. She grabbed Stiles’ chair instead, releasing her friend. “I’m sorry,” They were both silent for a moment, Stiles’ labored breathing the only sound in the air. “I'm gonna get ready for that party,” She picked up her bag and left. Stiles reached down and picked up her chair, inspecting the back and finding what looked like claw marks.

~

Skylar exited her bathroom to find her father waiting for her. 

“Dad!” She yelled out, startled. “What’re you going?”

“Is this a party or a date?” Melvin McCall asked his daughter, and she blushed.

“Both,” She admitted, and Melvin smiled at her.

“And his name is…” He prompted.

“Arthur,” Melvin hummed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his car keys and threw them to Skylar. “Thanks!”

“We don’t need to have a talk, do we?” He asked, making Skylar rolled her eyes.

“I am _not_ having the safe sex talk with you,” She told him, and his eyes widened.

“Oh my god, I was talking about keeping the tank full,” He grabbed the keys from Skylar’s hand. “Give me those,”

“Seriously?”

“Of course I’m serious. You are not going to end up on ‘Sixteen and Pregnant’, not on my watch!”

~

Skylar did manage to convince her father that she wasn’t going to be having any sex and was given permission to drive the car, which she picked up Arthur in. When they arrived at the party, Skylar noticed Derrine Hale lurking in the shadows. A dog behind her started barking and she turned around, not even needing the glowing-eyes that Skylar had had earlier to shut the dog up.

“You okay?” Skylar turned back to Arthur as he spoke.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine,” She answered. When she looked back to where Derrine had been standing, the older woman was gone. She glanced out a window and noticed a human-like figure running across Lyall’s neighbor’s roof. Shaking her head, she grabbed Arthur’s hand and danced with him. As they danced, Skylar caught sight of Lyall and Jackie making out in a corner. When Lyall looked past Jackie, he made eye contact with Skylar and gave her a seductive look. Skylar and Arthur continued to dance together, standing closer to each other. Just when it seemed like they were going to kiss, Skylar was stricken by a terrible headache.

“Are you okay?” He asked her, and she pushed him away.

“I’ll be right back,” Skylar clutched at her head as she made her way inside, leaving Arthur alone in the backyard. She soon passed Stiles, who broke off her conversation, concerned, to follow her best friend. 

“Skylar, you good?” She asked, and many of the students Skylar continued to pass echoed the Polish girl’s concern, but the Latina kept walking. She made her way to her father’s car, getting in and driving away. Arthur watched her go, hurt.

“Arthur,” He turned around to see Derrine. She smiled at him. “I’m Derrine, a friend of Skylar’s,”

~

Skylar made it home, rushing upstairs to her bathroom. She stripped her clothes off, turning on the shower and getting in. The hot water allowed her momentary relief, but her headache soon returned. She whined, running a hand over her face and sliding down to sit down in the bathtub, clutching the sides. She began to feel an ache in her hands and looked at them, horrified to see her nails sharpen into claws.

Climbing out of the bathtub and stumbling over to the mirror, Sklar was even more overwhelmed to see that her canine teeth were growing into fangs and her irises were glowing a bright gold color. Hearing a knock on her door, Skylar staggered out into her bedroom and leaned against the door.

“Go away,” She said loudly, not wanting her dad to find out about the situation.

“Skylar, it’s me,” Came Stiles’ voice, and Skylar opened the door a bit, just enough that Stiles could hear her, but not see her. “Sky, let me in, I can help,” Stiles insisted.

“No!” Skylar said, lisping slightly due to her fangs. She thought about earlier that day, about how she had almost attacked her best friend and decided she couldn’t risk it. “Listen, you gotta find Arthur,”

“He’s fine, all right?” Stiles told her. “I saw him get a ride from the party. He's- he's totally fine, alright?” Skylar shook her head, breathing heavily.

“No! I think I know who-” She stopped.

“Dude, just let me in!” Stiles insisted, exasperated. “We can try-”

“It’s Derrine!” Skylar interrupted. “Derrine Hale is the werewolf! She's the one that bit me. She's the one that killed the guy on the preserve!” Stiles’ eyes widened with horror.

“Skylar… Derrine’s the one who gave Arthur a ride home,” She told her friend. Skylar paused for a moment, processing, and then she shut and locked the door again. Stiles pounded on the door, demanding to be let in, but Skylar had already jumped out her bedroom window. She landed on the ground, her ears growing to be pointed, and she howled at the moon.

~

Skylar, now in full werewolf form, jumped on top of Derrine’s car, which was parked just outside the preserve. She searched the car but found that neither Derrine nor Arthur were inside. Panicked and worried for Arthur, she ran into the woods.

~

Stiles pulled up in front of the Argent house, panicked, and rushed to the door, knocking frantically.

“Come on… come on…” She muttered under her breath as she waited on the doorstep.

~

Skylar ran through the woods, using her newly enhanced sense of smell to track Arthur’s scent and trusting it to lead her to him and Derrine. With every moment that passed her desperation grew. If Arthur had already been killed by the time she got there, she didn’t know what she’d do.

~

Arthur’s father, Victor Argent, opened the door, and Stiles, overwhelmed with worry, wasted no time.

“Hi, Mr. Argent. Um - You have no idea who I am. I'm a friend of your son’s. Uhhh, look, this is gonna sound kind of crazy, um... Really crazy, actually. You know what? Crazy doesn't even describe-” Victor cut her off.

“Arthur, it’s for you!” He yelled into the house, and the boy appeared at the top of the stairs, looking confused and still dressed for the party, only missing the black silk tie he had been wearing while dancing with Skylar.

~

Skylar reached a clearing and found Arthur’s tie hung over a branch. She suddenly realized that that was the scent she had been tracking, not Arthur himself. Derrine crept out of the shadows and Skylar growled at her.

“Where is he?” Skylar demanded.

“Safe,” Derrine responded. “From _you_ ,” The woman tackled Skylar and they rolled down a hill. At the bottom, Derrine pinned the teenager to a tree.

“What did you do with him?” Skylar growled, but Derrine shushed her.

“Shh, quiet,” She paused for a moment before shaking her head, leaves from their tumble down the kill falling from her hair. “It’s too late. They're already here,” She looked back at Skylar. “Run,” Derrine bolts but Skylar, confused, paused. Suddenly, an arrow flew through the air, pinning Skylar to the tree by her forearm. Three women stepped out of the shadows.

“Take her,” The leader ordered, but before the other two could do anything, Derrine took them out and left the leader outnumbered. Skylar screamed in pain as Derrine ripped the arrow out of her forearm and the two werewolves ran away. Once at a safe distance from the women, Skylar, now in human form, dropped to her knees, clutching at her arm. She looked at Derrine with an odd mix of hurt, anger, and betrayal.

“Who were they?” she asked the older werewolf, who sighed.

“Hunters,” She said simply. “They’ve been hunter our kind for centuries,”

“Us?” Skylar asked, suspicions confirmed. “You mean _you_ did this to me?”

“Is it really so bad, Skylar?” Derrine asked. “That you can see better? Hear more clearly? Move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that most people would kill for. The Bite is a _gift_ ,”

“I don’t want it,” Skylar said stubbornly, but Derrine persisted.

“You will. And you're gonna need me if you want to learn how to control it,” She placed a hand on Skylar’s shoulder. “You and me? We’re sisters now,” And with that, the older werewolf walked away, leaving Skylar to her thoughts.

~

In the morning, while walking along the road, still in her clothes from the night before, Stiles’ Jeep pulled up right beside Skylar. The Latina climbed in, pulling on Stiles’ jacket and still cradling her - now healed - forearm.

“You know what actually worries me the most?” Skylar asked.

“If you say 'Arthur', I’m gonna punch you in the head,” Stiles threatened.

“He probably _hates_ me now!” She exclaimed, and Stiles rolled her eyes.

“I doubt that. But you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or, you know, you could just tell her the truth and revel in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a freaking werewolf,” Skylar gave her a look. “Okay, yeah, bad idea,” She looked over at Skylar. “Hey, we'll get through this. Come on, if I have to, I'll chain you up myself on full moon nights and feed you live mice,” Now Skylar was confused. “Hey, I had a boa once, I could do it!”

~

After school on Monday, Skylar stood in the parking lot outside Beacon Hills High, scanning the crowds for Arthur. She finally spotted the brunet and quickly made her way over to him. He looked at her and sighed, clearly not having forgotten the incident at the party.

“So, what happened?” He asked her. “You left me stranded at the party,”

“Yeah, I- I know, I know. I'm really sorry, I am. But you're gonna have to trust that I had a really good reason,”

“Did you get sick?” He asked her, remembering how she had been acting right before she had left. Skylar remembered the transformation and winced at the memory of the headache caused by all her senses peaking.

“I definitely had an attack of _something_ ,” She conceded, and Arthur sighed again.

“Am I gonna get a real explanation?” He asked her, and she looked at him, brown eyes wide.

“Can you please just find it in your heart to trust me on this one?” Arthur looked at her for a moment before sighing one last time.

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

“Probably,” Skylar acknowledged. “Is that a yes?”

“Definitely yes,” Arthur smiled at her in a parallel to that day at the Animal Clinic. Suddenly, a car horn blared nearby. “Sorry, that’s my mom,” He told Skylar. “I better go,” She watched him get into a dark red SUV and thought nothing of it. But then, she caught a familiar scent and looked back at the car, finally catching sight of Arthur’s mother. She was the lead hunter, the one who had shot Skylar the night before. It was then that Skylar realized that she was driving the same car Skylar had almost been hit by the night she had been bitten. All of these realizations came down to one, major point: Skylar was screwed.


	2. Second Chance at First Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now aware that she's become a werewolf, Skylar must deal with hunters trying to catch her, another werewolf named Derrine Hale, and the pressure of normal teen life. She also must figure out how to play her first lacrosse game and get a second chance at a date with Arthur.

Skylar dropped her bag at the foot of her lacrosse locker and leaned against the cold metal, staring into space. Arthur’s mother was a hunter.  _ Arthur’s _ mother was a hunter. Arthur’s  _ mother _ was a hunter. Arthur’s mother was a  _ hunter! _ Stiles peeked at her from around a corner.

“Did you apologize to Arthur?” The Polish girl asked her best friend.

“Yeah,”

“Is he giving you a second chance?”

“Yeah,”

“Then everything’s good!” Stiles beamed at turned around, but she halted when Skylar responded.

“No,”

“No?’ Stiles was baffled.

“Remember the hunters that I told you about?” Stiles nodded. “His mom is one of them,”

“His mom?” Stiles gaped.

“Is one of the hunters,” Skylar finished for her best friend.

“ _ Arthur’s _ mother,”

“She shot me,” Skylar said, dazed.

“Arthur’s  _ mother _ ,”

“With a crossbow,”

“ _ Arthur’s mo-” _

“Yes, his mother!” Skylar exclaimed, cutting Stiles off as she began to repeat it for the third time. She snapped out of her hazy shock and into a full-blown panic. “Oh my God, what am I going to do!” 

“Okay, okay, um…” Stiles thought. “Did she recognize you?”

“No, I don’t think so,” There hadn’t been any recognition that she could tell.

“Does Arthur know about her?”

“I- I don’t know,” Skylar admitted. Oh God, what if he did? What if he knew his mother hunted werewolves? What if he agreed with her?  _ What if he did too? _

“Alright, okay,” Stiles pulled Skylar out of her impending panic attack. “Let’s just… focus on lacrosse right now, alright, Sky?”

“Lacrosse,” The Latina agreed, and they slammed the door on their way out.

~

Coach threw the ball to a short, pale girl, who was almost immediately tackled by Jackie. The gorgeous captain slammed her stick down on the other girl’s gloves, sending the ball flying through the air.

“Nicely done, Jackie,” Coach praised. “Greenburg, that was a pathetic display of amateur ability, take a lap,” She blew her whistle again. Skylar was at the front of the line of players, lost in thought. “Hey, McCall! Come on, what’re you waiting for?” Skylar snapped out of her daze and held her stick up. Coach tossed her the ball and she caught it, going in for the shot, but was stopped by an attack by Jackie. The ball went flying and Skylar was left rubbing at the spot where Jackie’s stick had hit between her glove and elbow pad.

“You sure you wanna be on first-line, McCall?” Jackie asked snidely. Skylar gritted her teeth as she got angry, her eyes burning gold.

“McCall, my grandmother can move faster than that, and she’s dead!” Coach yelled. “You think you can move faster than the  _ lifeless corpse _ of my dead grandmother?” 

“Yes, Coach,” Skylar said through her gritted teeth.

“I can’t hear you!”

“Yes, Coach,” Skylar growled.

“Then do it again,” Skylar shot forward again as Coach blew her whistle, and she and Jackie collided with the sickening  _ crunch _ of a bone being dislodged from its socket. Most of the team, including Coach, ran to check on Jackie, Stiles ran to Skylar.

“You okay?” She asked, but Skylar refused to lift her head. “Sky?” The Latina tilted her head up to reveal her fangs resting against her bottom lip.

“It’s happening, Stiles. I can’t control it,” She sounded panicked through the lisp caused by the fangs. As Stiles dragged Skylar to the locker room by her shoulder pads without anyone on the team noticing, neither of them saw the figure standing at the edge of the lacrosse field, where it met the forest…

Derrine Hale.

~

“You okay?” Stiles asked as she dragged Skylar into the locker room. “Skylar, are you okay?”

“ _ Get away from me! _ ” Skylar roared, and Stiles jumped back, startled. As Skylar tore off her lacrosse gloves to reveal sharpened claws, Stiles backed into the fire extinguisher and knocked it off the wall. The sharp  _ clang _ of the metal hitting the ground drew Skylar’s attention to Stiles, but it wasn’t Skylar anymore. The wolf had taken over.

The wolf lunged at Stiles, seemingly intent of ripping the terrified girl’s throat out, but, thinking quickly, she picked up the fire extinguisher and pulled the trigger, blasting CO2 at the wolf. With the wolf distracted, she darted around the corner, leaning back against the lockers around said corner and waiting for the next attack. But it never came.

“Stiles?” Skylar’s voice called, and the Polish girl peeked around the corner to see Skylar, breathing heavily on the floor. She took her helmet off to reveal that she was back to normal. The wolf was gone. “What happened?”

“You tried to kill me,” Stiles said, bluntly, adrenaline still pumping. She dropped the extinguisher to the ground, shaking with leftover terror and anger. “It's like I told you before- it's the anger, it's your pulse rising. It's a trigger,”

“But that's lacrosse,” Skylar pointed out. “It's a pretty violent game if you hadn't noticed,”

“Well, it's gonna be a lot  _ more  _ violent if you end up killing someone on the field,” Stiles stated unnecessarily and then sighed. “You can't play Saturday. You're gonna have to get out of the game,”

“I’m first-line-” Stiles interrupted Skylar’s protests.

“Not anymore, you’re not,”

~

Melvin entered the room, dressed for his shift at the hospital. Skylar was sitting on the floor, stressed and tired and upset.

“Hey-- late shift again for me,” He said to his daughter “But, I am taking Saturday off to see your first game!” He sounded excited for Skylar, and she felt even more horrible that she couldn’t play. Her father was taking off to watch her sit on the bench. Again.

“Oh, Dad, you can’t-” Melvin cut her off.

“I can, and I am,” He told her stubbornly. “Come on, one shift isn’t going to break us…  _ Completely _ ,” He had muttered that last part under his breath, but Skylar heard it anyway. “Hey, what’s up with your eyes?” Skylar panicked for a moment, but her dad’s next words soothed her. “You look like you haven’t slept for days,”

“It’s, uh, it’s nothing,” She lied. “I’m just… stressed,”

“Just stress?” Melvin asked, concerned. “Nothing else?”

“Homework…”

“I mean, it's not like you're on drugs or anything, right?”

“Right now?”

“Right  _ now _ ?” Melvin scoffed. “I'm sorry, what do you mean, "right  _ now _ ?" Have you  _ ever  _ taken drugs?”

“Have you?” Skylar questioned tiredly, and her father sighed, letting it go.

“Get some sleep,” He pleaded with her, leaving the room. Skylar dragged herself up from her bed, sitting down at her desk and opening her computer. As soon as it powered on, there was an invitation from Stiles on screen. She clicked  _ accept _ , having been expecting this. Stiles’ face appeared on the screen.

“What’d you find out,” She asked.

“Well, it’s bad,” Stiles admitted to her. “Jackie’s got a separated shoulder,”

“Because of me?” Skylar felt guilty.

“Because she’s a tool,” Stiles correcting, having none of Skylar’s shit.

“But is she gonna play?”

“Well, they don't know yet. Now, they're just counting on you for Saturday,” The video chat started glitching, and Stiles’ next words were fragmented. Frustrated, she typed it in the chat, but the screen froze, leaving Skylar with only the first half of the message.  _ It looks like- _

“It looks like  _ what? _ ” Skylar questioned, also frustrated. Finally, the rest of the message loaded.  _ It looks like someone’s behind you. _ Skylar froze in fear before clicking on the tab in the corner of the screen with her picture on it, enlarging it. Sure enough, there was a shadowy figure in the corner of her bedroom. She spun around in her chair and Derrine grabbed her, sending her laptop flying into the wall. The older woman pinned the Latina against the same wall, growling.

“I saw you on the field,”

“What?” Skylar asked. “What are you-”

“You shifted in front of them,” Derrine growled accusingly. “If they find out what you are, they find out about me - about all of us - then it won’t just be the hunters after us, it’ll be  _ everyone _ ,” Skylar gulped, anxious.

“But, they didn't see anything! I s-swear, I-”

“And they  _ won’t _ ,” The dark-haired woman told her. “Because if you even  _ think _ about playing in that game on Saturday, I’ll kill you  _ myself! _ ”

~

“What do you mean, ‘you can’t play the game tomorrow’?” Coach asked, incredulous.

“I mean, I can’t play the game tomorrow,” Skylar repeated awkwardly.

“You mean, you can’t  _ wait _ to play the game tomorrow,”

“No, Coach, I can’t  _ play _ the game tomorrow,” The Latina grimaced at the expression on her coach’s face.

“I’m not following,” The woman said, and Skylar sighed.

“I’m having some…” She hesitated, trying to figure out how to phrase it. “... Personal issues,”

“Is it a guy?” Coach asked.

“No,”

“Is it a  _ girl? _ ” This one threw her and Coach kept talking. “You know, our goalie, Dani, is a lesbian,”

“Yeah, Coach, I know Dani,” Skylar said, impatient. “But that’s not it,”

“You don't think Dani's a… good-looking girl?” Coach asked her, frowning.

“Well, yeah, she’s good-looking,” Skylar was flustered, but she pushed it down. She would save all her sexuality crises for the privacy of her bedroom, thank-you-very-much. “But I like guys!” That wasn’t a lie, at least. “And anyway, that’s not the problem!”

“What, is it drugs? Are you doing meth?” Coach questioned. “Because I had a sister that was addicted to meth. You should have seen what it did to her teeth! They were all cracked and rotted. It was-it was  _ disgusting _ ,” 

“Oh my God,” Skylar muttered, distracted and genuinely concerned. “What happened to her?”

“She got veneers,” Coach told her exasperatedly. “Is-is that what this is about? Are you afraid of getting hurt, McCall?”

“No,” Skylar said hesitantly, before sighing. “I’m… having some issues… dealing with aggression,”

“Well, here's the good news! That's why you play lacrosse! Problem solved,”

“No, Coach,” Skylar said once again. “ _ I can’t play the game tomorrow night _ ,”

“Look, McCall,” Coach told the teenager. “Part of playing first-line is taking on the responsibility of being first-line. Now, if you can't shoulder that responsibility, then you're back on the bench until you're ready,” Skylar gasped.

“If I don't play the game, you're taking me off first-line?” She asked, eyes wide.

“McCall,” Coach sighed. “ _ Play the game _ ,”

~

Standing in the hall, Skylar jumped as she heard her phone chime. She pulled it out, pressing against the wall to avoid the rush of students, and found a message from her dad.  _ Got the night off! Coming to see you play! So excited!! _ She sighed in frustration just before another text came in.  _ What does LMFAO mean?  _ Just as she was about to text him back, she noticed Arthur headed toward her.

“Hey,” He greeted, nodding toward the phone. “You busy?”

“No, no, it's just, uh, my dad. He's nothing,” She realized what she had said. “I mean,  _ it’s _ nothing. I’m never busy for you,”

“I like the sound of that,” Arthur said, smiling at her. “I have to run to French class, but I wanted you to know that I'm coming to see you play tomorrow,”

“You are?” Skylar asked, surprised.

“And we're all going out afterward- you, me, Lydia, Jackson... It's gonna be great. Tell Stiles to come, too,” He continued smiling. “Hey, I gotta go. Save me a seat at lunch,” Skylar nodded quickly and Arthur disappeared into the crowd of rushing students with a small wave.

“Why is there a rumor going around that you’re not playing the game tomorrow?” Lyall demanded, accosting Skylar as soon as Arthur was gone.

“‘Cause I’m sorta not,” Skylar told the red-head, sighing. 

“I think you sort of are,” He assured her snidely. “Especially since you brutally injured my girlfriend, ramming into her,”

“She brutally injured  _ herself _ ramming into  _ me _ ,” She corrected.

“Jackie’s gonna play tomorrow,” Lyall said. “But, she's not gonna be at her peak... and, I prefer my girlfriend at peak performance,” He was frustrated. “I date the captain of the winning lacrosse team. And, if they start off the season losing, I date the captain of the  _ losing  _ team. I don't date losers,”

“Losing one game isn't gonna kill anyone,” Skylar told him, frustrated as well. “In fact, it might even save someone,”

“Fine,” Lyall sniped. “Don’t play. We’ll probably win anyway. And then I’ll introduce Arthur to all the  _ hot _ players on the lacrosse team, and Skylar McCall will stay home alone, surfing the web for porn,” He turned around and stalked off and Skylar leaned against the lockers, conflicted.

“I am  _ so screwed _ ,”

~

Arthur opened his locker, quickly reaching in and grabbing his French book. Just as he was about to slam it shut and head to class, he saw something in his locker that shouldn’t have been there. He reached in, pulling out the black silk tie he had worn to the party the week before. He eased his locker shut, glancing around and noticing how completely alone he is in the hall. There was total silence for a moment before the bell rang sharply, startling him. He let out a small, nervous laugh and headed off to French class.

~

“Come here,” Stiles grabbed Skylar’s arm after class, leading her around a corner, to where they could see the vice principal talking to Stiles’ mother and one of her deputies. “Can you hear what they’re saying?” She asked her Latina friend, who focused on the trio of adults.

“I want everyone under the age of eighteen to be in their home by 9:30 PM. We'd like to institute the curfew, effective immediately,” She heard Sheriff Stilinski say.

“Curfew because of the body,” Skylar told Stiles grimly as the vice principal protested.

“Unbelievable,” Stiles said, exasperated. “My mom’s out looking for a rabid animal, while the bitch who actually killed the guy is just hangin' out, doing whatever she wants,”

“Well, you can't exactly tell your mom the truth about Derrine,” Skylar pointed out.

“No,” She acquiesced. “But I can do  _ something _ ,”

“Like what?” Skylar asked.

“Like finding the other half of that body,” Stiles turned around and stalked off, determined.

“Are you  _ kidding  _ me?” Her best friend asked, incredulous and exasperated. She followed behind stiles until she saw Lyall introducing Arthur to a lacrosse player and she stopped. The red-head made direct eye contact with her. Arthur turned to see Skylar as Lyall the lacrosse player slipped away.

“So, Lyall’s introducing you to everyone,” Skylar said, and Arthur beamed.

“Yeah, he’s been so unbelievably nice. Usually, the popular guys are totally evil when I move to a new place. But he’s making it really easy for me,” Arthur told her.

“Wonder why,” She muttered under her breath, knowing full-well that Lyall was showing her his willingness to follow through on his threat.

“Maybe he gets how much it sucks to be the New Guy,” Arthur said, and Skylar smiled at him. Suddenly she noticed that he was carrying the tie he had worn to the party. The one Derrine had stolen.

“Where did you get that?” Skylar asked, and Arthur looked down at it.

“My tie?” He asked, oblivious to Skylar’s rising panic. “It was in my locker. I think Lydia brought it back from the party, she has my combination-”

“Did she say she brought it back?” She asked him urgently. “Or did somebody give her the tie?”

“Like who?” He asked, confused.

“Like Derrine?”

“You friend?”

“She's not my friend,” Skylar told him. “How much did you talk to her when she drove you home?”

“Not much at all,” He told her, frowning.

“What did you say?”

“Listen, I gotta get to class,” Arthur told her, turning away.

“Arthur-” He cut her off.

“We’ll talk later,” He walked away, heading to class and leaving Skylar to her panicked thoughts. Suddenly, she took off running.

~

“Derrine!” Skylar let her bike clatter to the ground in front of the old Hale house. “ _ Derrine! _ ” She slipped around the side of the house and into the backyard, noticing a suspiciously grave-sized patch of freshly dug dirt. Before she could approach it, she heard a heartbeat coming from behind her. She whirled around to face Derrine. “Stay away from him. He doesn’t know anything!” She told the older werewolf.

“And if he does?” She asked, stalking toward the teen. “You think your friend,  _ Stiles _ , can look up ‘werewolves’ and now you have all the answers? Is that it?” She reached down and pulled Skylar’s lacrosse stick from her bag, turning it over in her hands. “You don’t get it yet, but I’m looking out for you. Think about what could happen. You’re on the field. The aggression takes over. And you shift in front of everyone. Arthur, your father, your friends…” She held up a hand, displaying her claws, and Skylar flinched back. “And when they see you-” She raked her claws over the net. “- Everything falls apart,” She tossed the ruined stick to Skylar and disappeared.

~

Skylar was sat at her desk, relacing her lacrosse stick, when Stiles burst through her door and into her room, slamming it shut behind her.

“What did you find? How did you find it?  _ Where  _ did you find it?” Stiles asked in a rush before adding on, “Yes, I’ve had a lot of Adderall,”

“I found something at Derrine Hale’s,” She said, still focused on her lacrosse stick.

“Are you kidding?” Stiles asked. “What?”

“Something’s buried there. I smelled blood,”

“That’s awesome,” Stiles realized what she’d said. “I mean, that’s terrible. Whose blood?”

“I don't know,” Skylar admitted, knowing that they still had no idea who Derrine had killed. “But, when we find out, your mom can nail Derrine for the murder. And then,” She stood up, holding the restrung lacrosse stick and displaying it to Stiles. “You help me figure out how to play lacrosse without losing control because there's no way I'm not playing this game,”

~

Skylar and Stiles walked casually past the front desk of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital, trying to seem inconspicuous to the doctors, nurses, and patients. Stiles nodded toward a set of double doors down the hall, a sign next to them reading ‘Morgue’. Stiles wished her friend good luck and headed to the waiting area while Skylar walked through the doors.

In the morgue, Skylar searched until she found a body - half a body - labeled ‘John Doe - partial. Police Evidence, Do Not Tamper’. She took a deep breath and yanked the drawer open.

~

In the waiting room, Stiles noticed Lyall waiting by himself. He almost approached him, to talk to him or ask him out, but talked herself out of it. She knew what the answer would be. It was a good thing, too, since moments later, Jackie walked up, rubbing her shoulder, and Lyall pulled out the Bluetooth earbuds he had been wearing.

~

Skylar covered her mouth as she looked down at the covered body, noting that the sheet flattened out just above the severed hip. She slowly pulled her hand away from her mouth and grasped the edge of the sheet and pulled it up to reveal rotting feet. Unable to stand the sight or the smell anymore, she quickly covered the feet again and slammed the drawer shut.

~

“Did she do it?” Lyall asked his girlfriend.

“She said not to make a habit of it, but one cortisone shot won’t kill me,” Jackie answered.

“You should get another shot right before the game, too,” Jackie gave him a look. “What? The pros do it all the time. You want to be a little high school amateur?” He gave her a seductive look. “Or do you want to go  _ pro? _ ” The lacrosse captain was pulled into a dirty kiss and Stiles watch jealousy from behind a pamphlet on male contraceptives, which Skylar pulled out of her hands.

“Holy God!” Stiles yelped as her best friend appeared in front of her.

“The scent was the same,” Skylar confirmed, and Stiles’ eyes widened.

“You’re sure?” She asked, and Skylar nodded. “So she  _ did  _ bury the other half of the body on her property,”

“Which means we have proof that he killed that guy,” Skylar finished for her.

“I say we use it,” Stiles suggested.

“How?”

“Tell me something first,” Stiles requested. “Are you doing this because you want to stop Derrine, or because you want to play in the game and she said you couldn't?” She asked, and Skylar rolled her eyes, annoyed.

“There were bite marks on the legs,” She told Stiles. “ _ Bite marks _ ,”

“Alright,” Stiles conceded. “Then we’re gonna need a shovel,”

~

“Wait,” Skylar said as they approached the dug up patch of ground behind the Hale house. “Something’s different,”

“Different how?” Stiles asked, confused, and Skylar shook her head.

“I don’t know,” She shuddered. “Let’s just get this over with,” The two friends picked up their shovels and started digging in the loose, gravelly dirt. After a bit, Skylar spoke again. “This is taking too long,”

“Just keep going,” Stiles told her, continuing to dig.

“What if she comes back?”

“Then we get the hell out of here,” Stiles said with the same air of ‘no duh’.

“What if she catches us?” Skylar questioned, still worried, and Stiles stopped.

“I have a plan for that,”

“Which is?”

“You run one way. I run the other. Whoever she catches first? Too bad,”

“I hate that plan,” Skylar muttered as she resumed digging, sending worried glances toward the currently empty driveway. Eventually, they found fabric.

“Stop, stop, stop,” Stiles said, dropping her shovel. She brushed the dirt out of the way to uncover a large, cloth, drawstring bag. She worked at the knots holding the bag shut.

“Hurry,” Skylar spoke urgently, and Stiles huffed, annoyed.

“I’m trying. Did she have to tie the thing in, like, nine hundred knots?” Skylar looked at the driveway again.

“Let me help,” Together, the two teenagers clawed at the knotted rope, loosening it and letting the bag fall open. But instead of the dead man’s upper half, they found the dead body of a wolf. They both jumped back with small yells.

“What the hell is that?” Stiles asked rhetorically.

“It’s a wolf,” Skylar answered, shocked and confused.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Stiles’ sarcasm was heavy. “I thought you said you smelled blood? As in  _ human  _ blood?”

“I told you something was different,” Skylar pointed out, and Stiles rolled her eyes. The two of them peered at the tangle of dark, blood-encrusted fur and paws, Stiles muttering about how this didn’t make sense because  _ it didn’t make sense _ . Where was the body? What had Derrine done with the other half of the dead man? “We gotta get out of here,” Skylar told her friend, who nodded.

“Help me cover this up,” Stiles reached for her shovel, but then noticed a small, purple flower growing in the dirt.

“What’s wrong?” Skylar asked, noticing Stiles’ sudden lack of movement.

“Do you see that flower?” Skylar nodded, baffled. “I think it’s wolfsbane,”

“How do you  _ know  _ that?” Skylar asked in disbelief, and Stiles looked at her.

“Haven’t you ever seen  _ The Wolf Man _ ? Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude Rains? The original classic werewolf movie?” Skylar shook her head and Stiles sighed. “You are  _ so _ unprepared for this,” Stiles felt around the flower, finding that it was growing from a thin but strong strand of twine.

“Don’t,” Skylar protested, and Stiles looked at her. “I have a feeling that this is a bad idea,”

“Yeah,” Stiles agreed. “Me too,”

“So we’re leaving,” Asked Skylar hopefully, but Stiles scoffed.

“Hell no,” Of course not. Skylar had known deep down that Stiles would say that. The girl always seemed to run straight for trouble, dragging Skylar along kicking and screaming. Internally. Externally, she tried to stay calm. Skylar took several cautious steps back, away from the hole, as Stiles pulled the twine out of the ground. She found that the twine led back to the grave in an almost perfect spiral. Finally, she reached the end of the rope, gathering it in her arms.

“Stiles,” Skylar whispered, and the Polish girl turned around and promptly dropped the twine. The dead wolf had turned into the upper half of a dead man.

~

The next morning, the Hale house was swarmed with police. Stiles slipped into the passenger seat of a police cruiser and turned to look at Derrine, who was sitting - handcuffed - in the back.

“Just so you know, I’m not afraid of you,” Stiles said to the werewolf, who glared back. “Okay, maybe I am. Doesn’t matter. I just want to know something. The guy you killed-” She cut herself off, looking around before continuing. “He was a werewolf. But he was a different kind, wasn’t he?” Derrine didn’t answer. “He could turn himself into an actual wolf. I know Skylar can’t do that. And I think you can’t either. Is that why you killed him?”

“Why are you so worried about me, when your  _ friend _ is the real problem?” The dark-haired woman asked irritably. “When she shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do? Just keep cheering her on? I can't stop her from playing, but you can. And trust me- you want to,” Suddenly, Stiles was yanked out of the car by the back of her jacket.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The sheriff asked her daughter.

“I’m just trying to help!” Stiles defended herself.

“Okay, well, how 'bout you  _ help  _ me understand exactly how you came upon this?” The sheriff demanded, and Stiles sighed before giving her the story she and Skylar had rehearsed the day before.

“We were looking for Scott's inhaler-”

“Which she dropped  _ when? _ ” Her mother commanded.

“The other night,”

“The other night,” The sheriff hummed. “The night you were out here, in the dark, looking for the body?” Stiles nodded. “The night that you told me you were alone and Skylar was at home?”

“Yes,” Stiles said, before realizing what she had said and backtracking “I mean, no. Crap,”

“So you lied to me,” The sheriff said tiredly, having not expected anything less from her daughter.

“That depends on how you define ‘lying'...” Stiles said hesitantly.

“Well, I define it as ‘not telling the truth’,” Sheriff Stilinski said. “How do you define it?”

“Um... ‘reclining your body in a horizontal position’?” The mother and daughter stared at each other for a moment.

“Get off my crime scene,” Stiles’ mother said, completely done.

“Absolutely,” Came Stiles’ eager agreement

~

“I can’t find anything about wolfsbane being used for burials,” Skylar said from the passenger seat of the Jeep, researching on her phone.

“Keep looking,” Stiles told her. “Maybe it’s like a ritual. Like, they bury you as a wolf. Or maybe it’s like a special skill. Like, something you have to learn,”

“Yeah, I’ll put it on my to-do list. Right underneath figuring out how the  _ hell _ I’m gonna play the game tonight,”

“Maybe it’s different for guy werewolves,” Stiles muttered distractedly, and Skylar snapped.

“Stop that!”

“Stop what?”

“Stop saying werewolves. Stop enjoying this so much!” She lifted her hands to rub at her face, scrunching up her eyebrows. 

“Hey, are you alright?” Stiles asked, concerned.

“No!” Skylar snapped. “No, I'm not. I'm so damn far from being alright!”

“ You know,” Stiles started delicately. “You’re going to have to accept this, Sky. Sooner or later-”

“I can’t-”

“You have to-”

“No, Stiles!” Skylar said, now panicked. “I can’t breathe!” She lurched up as if stabbed and looked down at Stiles’ backpack. She ripped it open, pulling out the wolfsbane rope. “You kept it?”

“What was I supposed to do with it?” Stiles asked, but Skylar wasn’t listening. She clutched at her head in pain before looking at Stiles, eye glowing gold. “Pull over!” She growled, and Stiles complied, slamming on the brakes. She grabbed her backpack and hurled it into the forest away from the Jeep. “Okay, we’re good, you can-” She stopped talking as she turned back to her Jeep to find that Skylar was gone.

~

Arthur sat on his bed, holding a box, He pulled a simple, unframed picture out of the box, turning it over to read the words on the back.  _ Philly 4ever. We’ll miss you. _ Arthur had gotten used to being in a new school every year, sometimes more than one. He was used to being the new guy, but that never made it any easier. Still, he smiled as he stared at the picture of his friends from his old school in Philadelphia, not noticing Skylar, still in werewolf form, watching him from the tree outside his window.

Skylar seemed to lean forward as if to leap into Arthur’s bedroom through the open window, but the boy got up and closed it. Skylar saw her reflection in the glass and started back, horrified. She jumped out of the tree and made to run across the driveway, but a dark red SUV came out of seemingly nowhere and hit her.

“Oh my God!” Chris Argent, Arthur’s mother, yelled as she jumped out of her car, already dialing 911 as she leaned over the slumped-over form of Skylar. The girl reached a hand up and grabbed Chris’ arm.

“I’m fine,” She rasped out, now back to her human form.

“Mom?” Arthur called. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Sh- she came out of nowhere!” Chris stammered, and Arthur ran over.

“Are you trying to kill her?” Skylar almost laughed at the ironic question.

“No, no, of course not!” Chris responded to her son’s question. “She just- she just ran out into the driveway!”

“I’m sorry,” Skylar apologized, sitting up. “I’m sorry, it was my fault, I wasn’t watching-”

“Are you okay?” Arthur asked her, and she smiled at him.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I swear,” She told them both. “Sorry, I hit your car. I was just wandering, and I was coming to say ‘hi’,”

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Chris asked suspiciously, and Skylar nodded again.

“Yeah. Yeah, completely,” She reassured them, standing up while she spoke. “Uhhh, I should go. I've got a lacrosse game to get to. You're still coming, right?” Arthur brushed dirt off her hands.

“Yeah, of course, I’m coming,” Arthur told her.

“We both are,” Chris added. This was news to both teenagers, and they looked at her in surprise. The woman had seen the way her son and this girl looked at each other, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

~

Skylar sat in the locker room, trying to overhear what Jackie was whispering to another player, but the slamming of lockers drowned the other girl’s voice out and left Skylar with a painful ringing in her ears. The player Jackie was talking to nodded and walked away and Jackie turned to another. Stiles made her way over.

“You gonna try and convince me not to play?” Skylar asked bitterly, and Stiles sighed.

“I just hope you know what you’re doing,”

“If I don't play, I lose first-line and Arthur,” She told her friend.

“Arthur’s not going anywhere, and this is just  _ one game _ . One game that you  _ don’t have to play _ ,” Stiles pointed out.

“I  _ wanna  _ play,” The Latina snapped, frustrated. “I wanna be on the team. I wanna go out with Allison. I want a semi-freaking-normal life! Don’t you get that?”

“I get it!” Stiles assured her. “Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay? Or get too angry,”

“I got it,”

“Or stressed,”

“I  _ got it _ ,”

“Don't think about Allison being in the stands... or that her father's trying to kill you... or that Derek's trying to kill you... or the girl he killed... or that you might kill someone... if a Hunter doesn't kill you first-” Stiles breaks of her rambling at the look of panic on Skylar’s face. “Sorry. I’ll stop,”

Skylar walked out of the locker room, Stiles’ words ringing in her ears. As she approached the field, Lyall came up to her.

“Skylar, I want you to remember one thing tonight,”

“Winning isn’t everything?” Skylar suggested nervously, and Lyall grabbed her arm.

“ _ No one _ likes a loser,” He released her and walked away. Skylar nodded and headed out to the field, passing Coach as the woman made her way over to Jackie.

“How’s the shoulder?” Coach asked her captain.

“It’s fine,” Came the short answer.

“You feel any pain?”

“No,”

“If I punched you in the shoulder, would you feel any pain?”

“Maybe,” Jackie forced out through gritted teeth.

“Listen, just go out there. Just give it your best. If you feel any pain, just-”

“Keep playing?” Jackie suggested, and Coach beamed at her.

“That’s my girl!” Coach proclaimed proudly. The whistle blew and the starting line-up for both teams rushed forward. Stiles sat down on the bench, chewing on her gloves.

“Please let this go okay,” Skylar prayed as she got into formation with the other players. On the bleachers, Sheriff Stilinski sat down and tapped her daughter on the shoulder.

“Hey, kiddo,” She smiled at Stiles. “You think you’ll see any action tonight?”

“Action?” Stiles said, still worried about Skylar. “Definite possibility,” They both turned and watched as the game started. Jackie got possession of the ball, scooping it up faster than the other team could move. Skylar ran, opening herself up for a pass, but Jackie threw the ball to another teammate. There was a wild struggle and suddenly the ball was flying through the air and landing on the grass. Skylar lunged for it, but Jackie got there first. Almost as if she was stealing it from Skylar. But that didn’t make sense… did it?

Jackie whipped around and threw the ball toward the goal - and made it. The crowd up in the bleachers cheered, and Coach yelled proudly as the whistle blew. Skylar looked over to see Lyall whisper in Arthur’s ear. The two boys reached down and held up a large poster reading  _ We love you, Jackie, _ in bold letters.

“Brutal,” Stiles muttered as she saw the poster, and she looked over to a fuming Skylar. “Oh, this isn’t gonna be good,” As the game went on, no matter how quickly she moved, Skylar never got the ball. Her father’s disappointed expression in the bleachers hits her like a punch to the gut at every missed opportunity. Just then, she heard voices, and she finally discovered what Jackie had been whispering to the other players in the locker room.

“Only to me,” She whispered to Dani, who stared at her best friend.

“But what if she’s open?” The Hawaiian girl asked, and Jackie shook her head.

“Who’s the captain here, Dani? Huh?” Jackie asked aggressively. “You or me?”

“Jackie, come on!” Dani protested. “I just wanna win!”

“We  _ will _ win,” The captain insisted. 

“But-”

“What did I say?” She wasn’t backing down. “Hm? What. Did. I.  _ Say? _ ”

“Don’t pass to McCall,” Dani sighed. Jackie rapped her on the helmet and jogged off as Skylar stood with a white-knuckle grip on her lacrosse stick. Her eyes glowed gold. She hunched over, drawing the concerned glance of the referee. She nodded. But as the players lined up, Skylar started to growl lowly. The other team leaned back a bit, unnerved.

“Which one is Skylar?” Chris asked her son.

"

Number eleven,” Lyall answered for Arthur. “Also known as the one who hasn’t caught a single pass the entire game,”

“I hope she’s okay,” Arthur muttered quietly. 

“I hope  _ we’re  _ okay,” Lyall said. “We  _ need  _ to win this,” He flipped the sign over and held it up again. “A little help here?” He asked Arthur. The backside of the sign read  _ Jackie is #1 _ . Skylar looked up and growled a bit louder as she caught sight of the sign. The whistle blew.

Jacki and an opposing player grappled for the ball, sending it flying through the air, where Skylar caught it with impossible precision. She sprinted down the field and threw the ball, making the goal. On the bleachers, both Melvin and Arthur jumped up, cheering. Lyall’s expression was far too annoyed to have just been because of being jostled. On the sidelines, Stiles followed Coach, chewing on her lip and worried for Skylar.

“To McCall!” Coach yelled at her players. “ _ Pass to McCall! _ ” Jackie turned to her teammates, furious, but they all just shrugged helplessly, some pointing to the scoreboard. They were now only a point behind the other team. The other team got possession of the ball next, but the player was so unnerved by Skylar that she threw the ball right to her.

“Did the opposing team just deliberately pass the ball to us?” Coach asked, leaning over to Stiles.

“I believe so, Coach,” Came the Polish girl’s answer.

“Interesting,” The older woman muttered. “Helpful, but interesting,” Skylar charged past the other players and threw the ball. The goalie lept toward the ball, almost saving it, but the ball ripped right through the netting on her stick. Skylar backed away, watching as both Coaches accosted the referee. After a moment of deliberation, the referee blew his whistle.

“Goal!” The Beacon Hills crowd cheered loudly. The game was now tied. Jackie looked back at Skylar, who kept her head down to hide her glowing eyes and fangs.

“What the hell is up with your teammate?” An opposing player asked Jackie, who scowled. “What is she  _ on _ ?”

“I don’t know,” Jackie muttered. “Yet,” The whistle blew and Jackie and the opposing player fought for the ball. It went flying through the air, and Skylar caught it. But, as she went running down the field, the wolf began to take over. Suddenly, her target wasn’t the  _ goal _ , it was the  _ goalie _ . However, before she could attack the opposing team’s player, Arthur’s voice broke through the haze.

“Come on, Skylar!” He yelled up in the stands. “You can do it!” She snapped out of her bloodthirsty haze. She threw the ball, watching as it hit the net. As cheers sounded all around her, Skylar took a step back, breathing heavily. People from the stands charged into the field, celebrating, and Skylar ran toward the locker rooms, staring down at her claws. She entered the locker room, throwing her helmet to the ground and looking in the mirror. She was a werewolf. She punched the mirror, scattering shards of glass all around the room. 

~

Stiles flopped down onto the bench, sick with worry. She had no idea where Skylar had gone, but she knew that her friend had almost lost control during the game. As she sat there, her mother got off the phone.

“Is something wrong, mom?” The girl asked the sheriff, who frowned.

~

Arthur entered the locker room, concerned when he saw Skylar’s helmet roll across the tiled floor. As he walked further into the darkened room, he heard crunching and looked down, realizing that he was stepping on glass. Mirror shards, to be specific.

“Skylar?” He called, growing more worried. “Skylar, are you in here?” He rounded a row of lockers, hearing an odd shuffling sound, and found himself face-to-face with Skylar’s back. “Skylar, are you okay?” The girl turned around, now back to normal.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” She laughed nervously. “Sorry, I got a bit lightheaded for a minute there,”

“Probably the adrenaline,” Arthur told her, laughing a bit as well. “You were pretty amazing out there,”

“Thanks,” She blushed. “Sorry for acting so weird today,”

“It’s alright,” He told her, smiling. “I can handle weird,”

“To be totally honest,” Skylar admitted anxiously. “You make me really nervous,”

“Do I?” Arthur asked playfully, and she nodded. “Well, maybe you don’t have any reason to be nervous,” He looked her in the eyes. “Maybe I want you to be bold,” Skylar stared at him for a moment, and then leaned in and kissed him. And he kissed back. Suddenly, Stiles burst into the room, skidding to a halt upon seeing Skylar and Arthur together. The two of them pulled away from each other, smiling.

“I gotta get back to my mom,” He said. “Hey, Stiles,”

“Hey,” The girl called weakly as Arthur left.

“I kissed him,” Skylar told her best friend.

“I saw,” Stiles smiled.

“He kissed me,”

“I saw that, too,” Stiles said, humoring the Latina. 

“I don’t know how but I controlled it,” Skylar said, referring to the wolf. “I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it’s not that bad,”

“We can… um… we can talk about that later,” Stiles stammered, and Skylar turned to her, worried. Stiles reluctantly continued. “I’ll keep it simple. Medical Examiner determines killer of man to be animal not human. Derek is human, not animal. Derrine? Not killer. Derrine? Let out of jail,”

“Seriously?” Skylar gaped.

“No, and here's a bigger kick in the ass- my mom ID'd the dead guy, both halves. His name was Laurance Hale,”

“Hale?” Skylar asked, shocked. “You mean-”

“Derrine’s brother,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit of a pain to write, and I may end up regretting my choice to make a chapter for each episode in a few episodes...
> 
> So, this was fun. Twenty-one pages in Google Docs. The last one was nineteen, I think. This story is going to be really long, and, fair warning, I can not keep a regular updating schedule. You could get anything from four to zero chapters in any given week, depending on how much free time I have. But I'm usually able to crank out at least two if I don't run into writer's block.
> 
> Let me know if I missed any pronouns, sometimes I type the wrong one in out of habit. Leave me comments, please!


	3. Pack Mentality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skylar and Arthur end up on a group date, while an animal attack has Stiles' sheriff mother on the lookout.

Stiles slammed the driver’s side door of her Jeep shut as she and Skylar climbed out. Skylar had been telling her best friend about the horrifying dream she had had the night before.

“And then what?” Stiles asked as Skylar stopped talking, stopped describing herself as a monstrous beast attacking Arthur. “You killed him?”

“I don’t know,” Skylar admitted. “I just… woke up. I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that before,”

“Really? I have. Usually ends a little differently…” Stiles smirked.

“Okay, A? I meant I’ve never had a dream that felt that real,” The Latina clarified. “And B? Never give me that much detail about you in bed ever again,” She requested, and her best friend barked out a laugh.

“Noted,” Stiles agreed. “But I’m going to take a guess here-”

“I know,” Interrupted Skylar. “You think it has something to do with me going out with Arthur tomorrow. Like I’m afraid I’m going to lose control and rip his throat out,”

“No, of course not,” Skylar gave her a deadpan look. “Yeah, that’s totally it,” She paused and then scoffed. “Hey, come on! It's gonna be fine, all right? Personally, I think you're handling this pretty freakin' amazingly. You know, it's not like there's a  _ Lycanthropy for Beginners _ class you can take,” Stiles pointed out.

“Not a class,” Skylar said thoughtfully. “But maybe a teacher,” Stiles looked at her like she was crazy. And maybe she was, but this was the only idea she had.

“Derrine?” Stiles asked for confirmation, appalled by her best friend’s thought process. “You forgetting the part where we got her tossed in jail?”

“I know,” Skylar told her. “But… that dream. It just- it felt so  _ real _ ,”

“How real?” Stiles asked her, looking over Skylar’s shoulder with growing horror.

“Like it  _ actually happened _ ,” Skylar said, and Stiles’ horror reached its peak.

“I think it did,” Stiles pointed, and Skylar turned to see a school bus surrounded by yellow police tape. Sheriff Stilinski her deputies stood nearby while a lab technician examined the rear door, which was hanging off its hinges. Skylar’s heart stopped as she saw the blood still dripping off it.

~

Skylar and Stiles rushed through the school hallway, searching the crowds for Arthur and panicking harder each moment they didn’t see him.

“He’s probably  _ fine _ ,” Stiles assured Skylar. She was not convincing.

“He’s not answering my  _ texts _ , Stiles,” Skylar was having trouble breathing. It felt like her chest was pressing in on her lungs, forcing the air out and refusing to let it back in. Her skin was too tight, like her insides were trying to jump out. She felt like she was dying.

“You know, it could be a coincidence,” Stiles pointed out. “A  _ seriously amazing _ coincidence,”

“Just help me find him!” Skylar demanded, getting desperate. As she walked through the halls, students came up to her, patting her on the back and complimenting her performance during the game. Skylar absentmindedly returned the high fives as she continued, but her mind was still on Arthur. She escaped the throng of students and leaned against an abandoned row of lockers. As she stared down at her hands, her panic turned to anger, and she smashed her fist into the locker behind her, denting the metal in a way that was strangely reminiscent of the bus door. The locker contents spilled out as Skylar backed away from the dented metal. She darted around the corner and crashed right into someone.

“Oh my God!” Arthur yelled as his books tumbled right out of her arms. He looked at Skylar and let out a startled laugh. “You scared the hell out of me,”

“You’re okay!” Skylar breathed, so relieved it felt as if she were floating. Her chest stopped pressing in on her lungs and allowed her to breathe again, and her skin seemed to regain the elasticity to keep her insides in check.

“Once my heart starts beating again, yeah,” He told her, but he was still smiling. Skylar knelt to help gather his books from where they had scattered across the floor, still staring at him as if she couldn’t believe he was still breathing. “What?”

“Nothing,” Skylar sighed, shaking her head and looking down at the papers she was picking up off the ground. “I’m just… really happy to see you,” Suddenly, they heard the crackling of the PA system and a voice sounded.

“ _ Attention students, this is your principal _ ,” Everyone in the hall stopped moving as one, hoping to hear that school was being canceled, or at least to hear  _ something _ about the bloody school bus. “ _ I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as usual _ ,” They heard the click that signaled that the announcement was over and the hall erupted into groans as the students dragged themselves to class.

“Save me a seat at lunch?” Arthur asked, turning back to look at Skylar as he finally finished gathering his scattered supplies. She gave him a nod and he walked away, still smiling. Skylar sighed once again, relieved, and started back down the hall, stopping once again when she caught sight of a pissed off Jackie Whittemore.

Jackie was staring, ticked and baffled, at her locker - the same locker Skylar had punched earlier and left hanging off its hinges. The bitchy lacrosse captain glanced back and forth between the dented, twisted metal of her locker and her scattered papers and belongings on the floor for a moment before muttering an utterly bewildered “what the hell?” and looking up.

“What are you looking at, asswipe?” The gorgeous girl demanded snidely as she noticed Skylar staring at her. The Latina shook her head, looking down to avoid an unwanted confrontation with the other girl, and hurried off to class.

~

“Maybe it was my blood on the door?” Skylar suggested to Stiles in a low whisper while Ms. Harris, Stiles’ least favorite teacher (and seriously, Stiles hated the woman’s guts), wrote chemical reactions across the board.

“Could be animal blood,” Stiles pointed out, shrugging. “Maybe you caught a rabbit or something?”

“And did what with it?” Skylar asked Stiles, who gave her a deadpan look.

“Ate it,”  _ Duh. _

“ _ Raw? _ ” Skylar questioned, appalled.

“No, you stopped to bake it in a little werewolf oven. How should I know?” And there she went again with the sarcasm. “You’re the one who can’t remember anything,” Suddenly, Harris was looming over them both.

“Miss Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while,” The teacher told the Polish girl snidely. “I think you and Miss McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?”

“No,” Stiles snarked back. Harris rolled her eyes and directed Stiles and Skylar to new seats, on opposite sides of the classroom from each other. Skylar’s new seat was directly in front of Jackie, and the young werewolf ignored the lacrosse captain’s eyes on the back of her head as she sat down.

“Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much,” Harris told the best friends sarcastically before heading back to the board. As she reached the front of the room, a classmate Skylar was pretty sure was named Harley stood and pointed out the window.

“Hey, look!” He called out. “I think they found something!” Everyone turned around, looking first at Harley and then bolting to the window. Outside, an ambulance was parked by the woods, and EMTs carried a female body out of the trees on a gurney. As they reached the ambulance, the body lurched up.

“That’s not a rabbit,” Skylar pointed out needlessly, voice weak. She backed away from the windows, away from the other students, shocked and horrified. Stiles approached her slowly.

“She’s not dead,” Stiles reminded her. “She got up. A dead person can’t do that,”

“I  _ did _ that, Stiles,” Skylar said, looking down at her hands and imagining blood dripping from them, from invisible claws. She felt sick.

“But dreams aren’t memories,” Stiles told her best friend, desperate to provide some sort of comfort. She didn’t like the look on Skylar’s face.

“Then it wasn't just a dream,” Skylar determined. “Something _happened_ last night, and I can't remember what,”

~

“Dreams aren’t memories,” Stiles insisted as she and Skylar carried their lunch trays to an empty table, sitting down across from each other.

“ _ Something _ happened last night,” Skylar reminded her. “The fact that I can’t remember what is worrying me,” They made eye contact for a moment, completely silent and ignoring the sounds of chattering students around them.

“How are you so sure Derrine has all the answers?” Stiles demanded, not happy about having to affiliate with a murderer. Skylar leaned in, Stiles following her lead.

“Because during the full moon, she wasn't changed,” The Latina whispered. “She was in total control while  _ I  _ was running around in the middle of the night, attacking some totally innocent woman,”

“You don’t  _ know _ that,” Stiles sighed.

“I don’t  _ not _ know it,” Skylar contradicted, feeling guilty for what had happened to the woman on the bus.”I can’t go out with Arthur. I have to cancel,” She hated to think about what could happen if she lost control of herself while with him.

“No, you’re  _ not  _ canceling,” Stiles told her firmly. “You can’t cancel your entire life. We’ll figure this out,”

“Figure  _ what  _ out?” Lyall asked, sitting down next to Stiles, who jumped.

“Just, uh, homework,” Skylar said quickly and Stiles hummed in agreement. The short-haired girl paused with a french fry held to her lips.

“Why is he sitting with us?” She whispered to Skylar, who shrugged helplessly. Arthur walked over and the Latina teenager moved her backpack, which she had been using to save the seat beside her. Stiles watched with mounting surprise as Lyall’s friends joined them, along with Sarah - a first-line lacrosse player - and Dani. Stiles turned to her left, smiling at the guy who had just sat down next to her, who smiled back. She then turned to her right and smiled at Dani, who had been her bisexual awakening the year before, but the Hawaiian goalie gave her an unimpressed look. Jackie stalked over with her lunch and Stiles glared at her. The dark blonde hit Sarah’s shoulder.

“Get up,” She commanded.

“How come you never ask Dani to get up?” Sarah demanded, and Dani smirked at the girl.

“Because  _ I  _ don’t stare at her boyfriend’s ass,” The goalie pointed out, and Sarah pressed her lips together and nodded as if to say “that’s fair”, and got up, allowing Jackie to sit down between her best friend and her boyfriend and glare at Skylar, not entirely sure how the Mexican girl had managed to worm her way into the popular crowd. “So, they’re saying it’s some kind of cougar attack,” Dani announced, talking about the bus woman.

“I heard mountain lion,” Jackie interjected.

“A cougar  _ is _ a mountain lion,” Lyall muttered, and then he glanced around and realized they had all heard him. “... Isn’t it?” Stiles cursed the social system that made Lyall think he had to play dumb to be popular.

“Who cares?” Jackie asked, dipping a fry in ketchup. “ The chick’s probably some homeless tweaker who’s gonna’ die anyway,”

“Actually,” Stiles interrupted. “I just found out who she is,” She held out her phone so that the rest of the table could see the local news report she had playing on the screen.

“ _ The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Grace Myers, did survive the attack. Myers was taken to a local hospital where she remains in critical condition, _ ” The reporter asserted as Skylar’s eyes widened.

“I know her!” She gasped. “I used to take the bus back when I lived with my mom. She was the driver!”

“Really?” Arthur said, looking over at her.

“Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?” Lyall asked in a tone of voice that said that he wasn’t really asking. “How about, where we’re going tomorrow night?” Skylar and Arthur whipped their heads around to look at him. “You said you and Skylar were planning to hang out tomorrow, right?” He addressed Arthur. Alarm bells went off in her head.

“We were gonna…” He trailed off. “What were we planning to do?”

“We hadn’t decided,” Skylar reminded her boyfriend(?), who nodded, remembering.

“Well, I’m not sitting at home watching lacrosse videos again,” Lyall glared at Jackie briefly. “So, if the four of us are hanging out let’s pick something fun,”

“Hanging out? Like, the four of us?” Skylar asked, stunned.

“Were you planning on telling  _ me _ this?” Jackie asked her boyfriend bitterly, not wanting to have to stare at Skylar’s face for any longer than she needed to. 

“You want to hang out? The four of us?” Skylar asked Arthur, ignoring Jackie. “You and me? And them?”

“Sure,” The brunet agreed warily. “Sounds… fun,” Skylar looked over at Stiles, who was shaking her head violently.

“You know what else sounds fun?” Jackie asked rhetorically. “Stabbing myself in the  _ face  _ with this  _ fork _ ,” She held her fork aloft.

“Oh come on, Jackie,” Lyall sighed exasperatedly. “We’ll go bowling. You  _ love _ bowling,”

“Yeah,” The athletic girl griped. “With  _ actual competition _ ,”

“How do you know we’re not  _ actual competition _ ,” Arthur defended, and they could hear the quotation marks as she repeated Jackie’s words. He turned to Skylar. “You can bowl, right?” He asked.

“Sort of…” She said slowly, knowing full well she sucked.

“Is that ‘sort of’ or ‘yes’?” Jackie asked condescending and Skylar snapped.

“Yes. In fact,” Stiles buried her head in her hands, knowing this was going to be a disaster. “I’m a  _ great _ bowler,”

~

Skylar slammed her head into her locker, beating herself up internally  _ and _ outwardly.

“You’re a  _ terrible _ bowler,” Stiles pointed out as she watched her best friend try to smash her brains out on the grated metal of her locker.

“I know!” The Latina groaned. “I’m such an  _ idiot! _ ”

“God, it was like watching a car wreck,” Stiles said. “I mean, first, it turned into the whole group-date thing, and then out of nowhere comes that phrase-”

“‘Hang out’,” Skylar quoted, nodding.

“You don't ‘hang out’ with hot guys, okay? It's like  _ death _ ,” Stiles informed her. “Once it's ‘hanging out’, you might as well be his lesbian best friend for all the interest he has in you. You and  _ Dani _ can start ‘hanging out’,” If it weren’t for Arthur, Skylar didn’t think that would be too bad. Unbeknownst to her, Stiles thought the same. About Dani, not about Arthur. She was not interested in Arthur. That would be  _ such _ a violation of the best-friend-code.

“How is this  _ happening? _ ” Skylar sighed. “I either attacked someone, or I didn't-”

“I don’t think Dani likes me very much-” Stiles bemoaned, now ignoring her best friend’s mental breakdown in favor of her own.

“- I ask Arthur on a date, and now we're ‘hanging out’-” Skylar continued obliviously.

“- Am I not attractive to gay girls?” Stiles asked, now panicked and just as oblivious

“I make first-line, and the team captain wants to destroy me,” Skylar continued, not hearing the bi panic in Stiles’ voice. “And now-” The werewolf looked down at her watch. “Now I’m gonna be late for work!” She groaned, jogging off and leaving Stiles behind.

“Wait, Skylar, you didn't-” Stiles called out, equal parts exasperated and desperate. “ _ Am I attractive to gay girls? _ ” She sighed. “You didn’t answer my question,”

~

“Sorry, sorry!” Skylar called out her apology to Dr. Alana Deaton as she burst into the examining room of the Animal Clinic.

“You’re all of  _ two minutes _ late,” Deaton told her pointedly and Skylar sighed.

“I know, I just don’t want you to think I’m slacking,”

“Skylar, I can assure you, you're one of the  _ least  _ slacking kids in this town,” But Skylar wasn’t listening. Instead, she was staring out into the reception area through the open top half of the dutch door, frozen in fear. Sheriff Stilinski approached, black aviators concealing any emotion in her eyes and making her intentions unclear, but Skylar was sure that this was it. Her best friend’s mother was coming to arrest her. For one heart-stopping moment, she found herself wondering where she had slipped up, how they had found out, but then the bottom half of the dutch door opened and a German Shepard limped through.

“Looks like  _ someone’s  _ ready to get their stitches out,” Deaton spoke to the dog cheerfully as Skylar gazed down at it, tension draining from her body. 

“Hey there, Skylar,” The sheriff said, and the girl nodded in greeting. “You staying out of trouble?”

“Yeah,” She nodded, lying through her teeth. She was in so much trouble these days she was drowning in it. The sheriff turned to Deaton, who was attending to the dog on the table.

“Hey, listen. While I’m here,” The woman pulled out a digital camera, displaying the screen to Deaton. “Would you mind taking a look at those pictures I was telling you about? Sacramento still can't determine an animal,”

“I’m not exactly an expert,” Deaton told her hesitantly. “This is the woman who was attacked on the bus?”

“Yeah,” Sheriff Stilinski confirmed, nodding. “We found wolf hairs on Laurance Hale’s body,”

“Wolf hairs?” Skylar asked, surprised. Both women turned to look at her and she looked down awkwardly. “It’s just- I think I read somewhere that wolves haven't been in California for, like, sixty years…” She trailed off.

“True enough,” Deaton confirmed. “But wolves are highly migratory. They could have wandered in from another state, driven by impulse or a strong enough memory,”

“Wolves have memories?” Skylar questioned her boss, surprised, as she tried to get another look at the camera’s screen. Her previous glance hadn’t revealed anything other than jagged wounds, but the camera was held  _ just _ outside her view.

“Longer-term memories, yes. If associated with a primal drive,” She turned to the sheriff. “See this one here? Those are claw marks. A wolf would’ve gone for the throat or the spinal cord with its teeth,” She informed the other woman, who nodded in consideration.

“So, probably a mountain lion?” She asked, and Deaton tilted her head.

“I don’t know,” Deaton told her honestly. “A wolf  _ could  _ chase down its prey and hobble it, tearing at the ankles…”

“The ankles?” Skylar asked, a bit panicked as she remembered dragging Arthur down by his ankled in her dream the previous night.

“And  _ then  _ the throat,” Deaton confirmed, not noticing her prodigy’s panic. With an unnerving smile, Deaton handed the camera back to Sheriff Stilinski.

~

Skylar walked through the hospital doors and over to the reception desk as her father looked up, smiling at the sight of the white, plastic bag in his daughter’s hands.

“Is my beautiful, talented, and wonderful daughter  _ actually  _ bringing me dinner?” Melvin asked her playfully, and Skylar grinned.

“I thought you wouldn’t mind skipping the cafeteria tonight,” She told him.

“You are the most thoughtful, loving, most  _ conniving  _ little con-artist ever. You are  _ so  _ not getting the car tomorrow night,” He said to her, seeing right through her scheme.

“ _ Dad! _ ” She protested, groaning.

“There’s a  _ curfew! _ ” Melvin reminded his daughter. “But I  _ will  _ take this,” He grabbed the bag of food. “Love you!” He kissed her forehead before running off.

“Love you, too,” She breathed in for a moment before leaving, catching a scent, and she followed it down the hall. The teenager stopped at room 137, finding that it had been left ajar. She eased it open and stepped inside. Pulling aside the curtains, she approached Grace Meyers, who was covered in bandages and braces. “Mrs. Meyers?” She called. “Mrs. Meyers, are you alright?” The woman’s hand lurched up, grabbing Skylar’s arm and she rasped out what was probably meant to be words and her heart monitor started going crazy. She yanked herself free, feeling incredibly culpable, as Melvin and his colleague ran into the room.

“What are you  _ doing  _ in here?” Her father demanded, and, without waiting for an answer, he began to push her out of the room. “Out! Go!”

~

“It looks pretty deserted, dispatch,” Deputy Jane Miller said into her radio as she got out of her cruiser, which was parked out front of the old, burned-out Hale house “Did you want me to take a look inside?”

“ _ Unit Sixteen, it’s county property. Order is to make sure it’s vacant, _ ” Dispatch told the woman, who looked around nervously.

“I don’t-” Miller cut herself off. “I don’t think anyone’s home,”

“ _ For the love of God, Sixteen, _ ” Dispatch sighed. “ _ Go inside and see if anyone’s there! _ ”

“Copy that,” She agreed begrudgingly. The Deputy held a nervous glare toward the dilapidated house before looking around, noticing how utterly alone she was. Slowly gathering her courage, she started toward the house before stopping abruptly. She unlatched the clip on her gun as the flitted her eyes left and right as if she had heard something, and she started moving toward the house once again. Inside the cruiser, a german shepherd pressed its nose to the window, turning towards one of the windows of the house.

Inside the window, Derrine Hale’s glowed and eery, fluorescent blue.

The Deputy continued toward the house, but stopped, flinching, when her german shepherd barked. She threw it an irritated glance before waving a hand at it and continuing. But, inside the cruiser, the dog whined and paced the backseat before letting loose a flurry of barks.

“What is it, girl?” Miller asked, turning back to the dog, who had begun panicking, not stopping its barks and it tried to get out of the car. “What the-” The barks turned to yips and strangled cries. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” Miller told her dog, now thoroughly unsettled, as she ran back to the cruiser. She got in and slammed on the gas, tearing out of the driveway so fast she kicked up dirt. Through the window, Derrine gave a small, satisfied smile before noticing Skylar standing in the dust.

“I know you can hear me,” Skylar said, not moving to approach. “I need your help,”

~

Skylar entered the house, looking around at the walls, black with soot and burned by the flames that had engulfed the house and its inhabitants six years prior. Since meeting Derrine, she had looked up the fire, curious. Eleven people had died that day. Derrine’s parents, grandparents, younger brother, older sister, aunt and uncle, and three cousins had burned alive while she and Laurance were at the high school for practice. There was only one survivor; Derrine’s aunt, Peyton Hale, who had been stuck in a catatonic state since being pulled from the flames. She read and wondered if all of them were werewolves, wondered if there was more behind the fire than was written in the papers.

“Okay,” Skylar sighed as Derrine’s staring snapped her out of her reverie. “I know I was part of you getting arrested. And that we basically announced you being here to the hunters. And I also don’t know what happened with your brother…” She looked at Derrine, waiting to see if the woman would fill in the blanks. She didn’t. “But I think I did something last night. I had this dream about... someone. But  _ someone else _ got hurt. And it turns out that part of the dream might have actually happened,”

“You think you attacked the driver?” Derrine finally spoke.

“Did you see what I did last night?” Skylar questioned.

“No,”

“Can you at least tell me the truth? Am I gonna hurt someone?” Skylar asked, anxious.

“Yes,” Came the blunt answer.

“Could I kill someone?”

“Yes,” Derrine was not sugar-coating this. She wanted this girl to finally get it, that there was more than just  _ lacrosse _ and  _ a guy _ on the line.

“ _ Am I _ gonna kill someone?”

“Probably,” Skylar looked at her, stricken, as her knees almost buckled. She leaned against a burnt wall, breathing heavily. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. She didn’t want to be a killer. Derrine sighed. “Look, I can show you how to remember. I can show you how to control the shift, even on a full moon. But, it's not gonna come for free,” She cautioned.

“What do you want?” Skylar asked, a bit worried.

“You’ll find out,” That was not making her feel better. “But for now, I’ll give you what  _ you  _ want. Go back to the bus. Go inside. See it, feel it. Let your senses - sight, smell, touch - let them remember for you,”

“That’s it?” Skylar asked, incredulous. “Just - just go back?”

“Do you want to know what happened?” Derrine was getting impatient. Why did it have to be teenagers?

“I just wanna know if I hurt her,”

“No,” The older werewolf corrected. “You want to know if you’ll hurt  _ him _ ,” Skylar looked away. “Do it. If you were there, you’ll remember,”

~

Skylar rounded the end of the driveway and crossed the street, heading for the Jeep. As she climbed into the passenger seat, Stiles looked at her.

“So what did she teach you?” Stiles asked her best friend. “How to roll over? Beg? Give her your paw?” Skylar didn’t react, not even cracking a smile, and Stiles frowned at her. “Did she tell you how to remember?” Skylar nodded, seemingly deep in thought. “And you think we can trust her?” Another nod. “So, then, let’s do it!”

“But what if I remember that I actually _did_ attack her?” Skylar asked, scared. “And what if she dies?”

“You didn’t,” Stiles insisted. “And she won’t, I promise,”

“What if I go to sleep one night and it’s  _ you _ I go after?” Skylar asked. She and Stiles called each other their best friend, but the truth was, Stiles was more like a sister to her. Skylar didn’t know what she’d do if anything happened to Stiles, let alone if she was responsible. “How are you going to feel if I  _ kill you _ , Stiles?”

“Well, I’d prefer not to feel anything,” Stiles joked. “I have a very low pain tolerance,” Looking over at her, Skylar finally cracked a weary smile. “You’re not a killer,” Stiles assured her. “But you are a bitch for making me sit in the car,” She started the Jeep, pulling away from the side of the road and driving off.

~

Stiles’ Jeep pulled up to the chain-link fence around the high school parking lot. As the light blue vehicle rolled to a stop, Skylar jumped out and approached the fence, her eyes focused on the mutilated school bus. The yellow police tape draped around it fluttered in the slight breeze. She took a deep breath and began to climb the fence, but paused as Stiles began to follow her.

“Hey, no,” The Latina protested. “Just me. Someone needs to keep watch,” She didn’t want Sties anywhere near that bus. She didn’t want Stiles to get hurt. She didn’t want to snap around Stiles, not again.

“How come I'm always the one keeping watch?” The short-haired girl scoffed.

“Because there’s only two of us,” Skylar pointed out.

“Okay, why's it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin?” She scoffed again. “I don't want to be Robin all the time!”

“Nobody's Batman and Robin any of the time!” Skylar exclaimed, exasperated. 

“Not even some of the time?” Stiles asked, offended.

“Just. Stay. Here,” Skylar sighed, climbing the fence, ignoring Stiles’ groans. She jumped down on the other side and quickly approached the bus, her tension mounting as she got closer. She was terrified of what she might remember. As she advanced on the ruined back door, she briefly closed her eyes, holding still and -

_ Skylar stirs in her bed, snapping awake as she hears a howl through her open window. Her eyes fly open, glowing gold, and she rises from her bed in a strange limbo between human and werewolf. _

Skylar opened her eyes, both horrified and relieved that it was working. She steeled herself, trying to prepare for anything she might remember, and entered the bus. She walked slowly down the aisle, brushing her hand along the vinyl bus seats and trying not to think too hard about the dark splatters of blood across the windows. She looked down at the floor -

_ A figure is dragged down the aisle, just like Arthur in Skylar’s nightmare, only this time, it’s the real victim. The bus driver let out ear-shattering shrieks as she was pulled to the back of the bus by her ankle. _

Skylar gripped the back of a seat tight, sickened, as she remembered what had really happened that night -

_ Skylar, in her semi-werewolf state, rushes to the back of the bus as the driver screams, terrified struggling increasing as her fear grew. As Skylar tries to free the driver, she gets slashed at by a clawed hand and she jumps back, pressing a hand to the bleeding gash across her sternum. _

Skylar looked around at blood splattered across the bus -  _ her blood _ . Suddenly, a horn blared and a flashlight shone through the window. She’d been caught.

“You! On the bus!” A voice yelled. “Stay where you are!” So, Skylar did the logical thing - she jumped out of the bus and hit the ground running. Behind her, a pissed off security guard came running out of the school, armed with a flashlight. Skylar raced for the fence as the light caught her. The chain link came up fast, but instead of climbing it, she launched herself off the pavement and flipped head over heels right over the fence. Stiles watched wide-eyed from behind the wheel of the Jeep as Skylar jumped the fence and landed like an Olympic gymnast.

“Go! Go!” Skylar yelled as she jumped in the passenger seat and slammed the door shut and Stiles floored it.

~

“Did it work?” Stiles asked as she eased down to a more reasonable speed, now far away from the school and the security guard. “Do you remember?”

“Yeah, I was there last night,” Skylar confirmed. “And the blood? A lot of it was mine,”

“So you really  _ did _ attack her?” Stiles asked.

“No,” The werewolf denied. “I saw glowing eyes on the bus, but they weren’t mine. It was Derrine,”

“What about the driver?” Stiles questioned, confused.

“I think…” Skylar’s eyes went out of focus as she thought about it. “I think I was actually trying to  _ protect _ her,”

“Wait,” Stiles was still confused. “Why would Derrine help you remember that s _ he  _ attacked the Driver?”

“I don’t get it either,”

“It’s gotta be a pack thing!” Stiles said, eyes widening in realization. Skylar looked at her, baffled. “Like an initiation - you do the kill together,”

“Because ripping someone’s throat out is  _ such  _ a bonding experience,” Skylar agreed sarcastically, taking a page out of her best friend’s book.

“But you didn’t do it! Which means you’re not a killer!” Stiles reassured the Latina werewolf. “It  _ also  _ means-”

“That I can go out with Arthur!” Skylar finished excitedly, and Stiles gave her a look.

“I was  _ gonna  _ say it means you won’t kill  _ me _ ,” The Polish girl told her, playfully offended.

“Yeah, that too,”

~

“Pass,” Lyall said as Arthur held a sweater up to his mirror. The brunet put it down and picked up a very Californian shirt. “Pasadena,” Lyall told him and he put this one aside too, instead picking up a Spanish-looking jacket. “Pasodoble,” Lyall called out. “Pass, pass, pass on all of it. God, Arthur, my respect for your taste is dwindling by the second!” The red-head cried out in frustration from Arthur’s bed. He stood, marched over to the closet, and yanked an article of clothing out of it. “ _ This _ ,” The bedroom door swung open unannounced, and Chris walked in, pulling on her jacket.

“Mom!” Arthur admonished, scoffing. “ _ Hello? _ ”

“Right, sorry,” His mother apologized sheepishly. “I completely forgot to knock,”

“Hi, Mrs. Argent,” Lyall greeted flirtatiously, sliding his leg up on the bed and striking a model-like pose. To his annoyance, Chris didn’t notice. Wanting to put an end to  _ that _ as soon as possible, Arthur spoke up again.

“Mom?” He said. “Did you need something?”

“Just wanted to tell you that you’ll be staying in tonight,” The woman told her son, who scoffed.

“I’m going out with my  _ friends  _ tonight,” He told her.

“Not with some animal out there attacking people, you’re not,”

“Mom!” Arthur protested. “I-”

“It’s out of my hands,” Chris told her, interrupting. “There’s a curfew. No one’s allowed out past nine-thirty,”

“ _ You’re _ going out,” Arthur protested once again, pointing at his mother’s jacket.

“ _ I’m _ over eighteen,” Chris shot him down. “No more arguing,” She left the room, closing the door behind her.

“ _ Someone’s _ a mama’s boy,” Lyall said sarcastically, and Arthur smirked.

“Maybe sometimes,” He admitted. “But not tonight,” He opened his window and climbed out, Lyall watching.

“What are you doing?” The ginger asked, intrigued. Arthur skidded to the edge of the roof and launched himself off, doing a complicated flip and landing neatly on his feet.

“Eight years of gymnastics,” He explained as he caught sight of Lyall’s stunned expression. “You coming?” Lyall stared blankly for a moment.

“I think I’ll take the stairs,”

~

Lyall and Jackie sat at a lane in a moderately crowded bowling alley, putting on their bowling shoes as Skylar and Arthur tried to select a ball. Arthur hefted one after another, comparing and testing their weights.

“You look like you know what you’re doing,” Skylar pointed out nervously.

“I used to bowl with my mom,” He told her, shrugging. “When was the last time you bowled?”

“At a birthday party,” Skylar told him truthfully. “When I was eight,” She added under her breath as he walked away.

“Me first,” Lyall declared. “Jackie?” The girl stepped up behind him, helping him position himself with a bright pink ball. He only knocked down a few pins each time. “I'm so bad at this,” He pouted fakely. Arthur went next. Moving with grace and fluidity, he sent the ball rolling down the lane and all of the pins tumbled. “Someone brought their A-game,” Lyall said, impressed with his best friend’s bowling prowess. Skylar clapped for him as he came walking back with a proud smile on his face, sitting next to her as she gave him a nervous nod. Jackie stepped up and easily nailed a strike, Lyall cheering for her as she strutted back to her seat and gave Skylar a cold glare.

“You’re up, McCall,” She told the Latina, who once again nodded nervously. She took a heavy deep breath and grabbed a ball.

“You can do it, Skylar!” Arthur cheered for her, and, looking like she was going to throw up, Skylar stepped up to the line. Jackie watched closely, eager to see the other girl fail. Charging up, she released the ball in what was very likely the most hideous-looking toss ever witnessed by human eyes. The ball barely went a few feet before clunking into the gutter. She closed her eyes in emotional anguish at the diabolical laughter behind her. “Jackie?” Arthur asked irritably. “You mind shutting up?”

“Sorry,” Jackie chortled. “I’m just flashing back to the words ‘I’m a great bowler’,”

“Maybe she just needs a warm-up,” Arthur argued, annoyed.

“Yeah,” The lacrosse captain scoffed. “Maybe he just needs the kiddy bumpers,” This time, Lyall laughed with her. The ball snapped out of the return and into Skylar’s hands. “Come on, McCall. Lydia at least knocked a few pins in. You want me to come up and guide you too?” Lyall hit her shoulder as Skylar scoffed quietly. Jackie might have been physically attractive, but beauty was only skin deep. Meanwhile, her ugly personality went straight through her bones. Skylar stepped up again, holding the ball like she was trying to crush it. She glared down the lane, at the pins.

“Just aim for the middle!” Arthur called out.

“How about you just aim for anything except the gutter,” Jackie suggested snidely.

“Let her concentrate!” Arthur snapped, and Skylar sent him a grateful look. As she turned back to the lane, her brow creased in anger, she sent the ball careening down the slick aisle. Arthur watched in anticipation, and the ball clunked right into the gutter. No pins, but plenty of humiliation. Behind her, Jackie resumed her earlier laughter. Skylar slumped down on the bench, miserable, and Arthur patted her knee.

“Don’t worry,” He told her. “We only just started,” Later, as Skylar was lining up again after having just missed - again - Arthur came up behind her, whispering in her ear. “You’re thinking too hard,” He told her, and she sighed.

“I know. I’m sorry, I’m ruining this,” She said sheepishly, and Arthur shook his head.

“No, no, not at all!” He reassured her before continuing in a wry tone of voice. “But, I wouldn't mind shutting them up. So, just clear your head, and think about something else,”

“Like what?” She asked desperately.

“Think about me…” He told her seductively, turning away just a bit before whispering with a smirk. “... Naked,” Skylar nearly dropped the bowling ball, turning around to see Arthur give her an innocent smile. When she turned back to the lane, her eyes flickered gold for a moment as her heightened abilities kicked in. Her vision zeroed in on the pins and she sent the ball flying down the alley - a perfect strike.

“What did you  _ say _ to her?” Lyall asked incredulously, leaning over to Arthur.

“I, uh,” He paused for a moment. “I just gave her something to think about,”

~

Derrine got out of her Camero under the dimly lit overhang of the gas station. As she put the pump in her car’s tank, a dark SUV eased up, as if to pull into the opposite tank, but instead stopped just in front of Derrine’s car. Another SUV then pulled in right behind her, blocking her in. Derrine watched as two hunters stepped out of one SUV, and Chris Argent stepped out of the other. The werewolf continued to fill her tank, fully aware of the hunters watching her threateningly. As she pulled the pump out and twisted the cap back on, Chris spoke.

“Nice ride,” She gave a false smile. “Black cars, though. Very hard to keep clean. I would definitely suggest a little more maintenance,” The woman grabbed a squeegee and poured water over the windshield, cleaning it for Derrine. “If you have something this nice, you want to take care of it, right?” The werewolf watched the hunter’s methodical movements, unnerved. “Personally, I’m very protective of the things I love. But that’s something I learned from my family. And you don’t have much of that these days, do you?” Her words were pointed as she pulled the squeegee one last time. “There we go. You can actually see through the windshield now. See how that makes everything so much clearer?” Chris looked over at Derrine, pleased to see that the younger woman’s hands were curled into fists. Derrine, knowing what Chris was doing, unclenched her hands, not willing to be provoked.

“You forgot to check the oil,” Came Derrine’s sarcastic reply and Chris smirked, liking her confidence.

“Check the woman’s oil,” She commanded, and one of the hunters smashed their gun through her window. Neither Chris nor Derrine so much as flinched. “Drive safely,” The hunter told the werewolf, somehow making the words sound like a threat. She gave a signal and she and her hunters climbed back into their SUVs and drove off.

~

Skylar grinned as she sat down next to Arthur after yet  _ another _ perfect strike. Arthur laughed a bit as he high fived her.

“That is  _ seriously _ amazing,” He told her before turning to Jackie. “ Jackie, how many strikes is that?”

“Six,” The girl spat out through gritted teeth. “In a row,”

“Something just clicked, I guess,” Skylar shrugged.

“Maybe it’s just natural talent,” Came Arthur’s suggestion and Lyall looked at the Latina with renewed interest. Jackie reached for her boyfriend, but he brushed her off.

“I could use a little natural talent,” The ginger flirted. “You mind helping me out this time, Skylar?”

“No, you’re good. Go for it,” She told him, completely oblivious to his interest in her.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Lyall said, irritated that his charms weren’t working on the girl who only had eyes for Arthur.

“I’ll help-” Jackie started, but Lyall interrupted.

“How about I try one on my own,” He said snidely. Jackie backed off, hurt by her boyfriend’s blatant interest in Skylar. It felt a bit like the other girl was stealing her social life. Lyall stepped forward and let the ball fly, nailing a perfect strike. “I think I'm getting the hang of it,”

“That was sort of perfect form,” Arthur told his friend, leaning in towards him.

“Was it?” Lyall asked, playing dumb.

“Maybe you should stop pretending to suck just for her benefit,” The brunet told him pointedly and Lyall scoffed.

“Trust me,” He said suggestively. “I do a lot  _ just for her benefit _ ,” They both heard the intentional innuendo in his words. Beside him, Jackie sank into her seat, miserable.

~

“Listen,” Skylar said to Jackie as they sat next to each other, taking off their bowling shoes and slipping their sneakers back on. “I know neither of us wanted to be here, but we don’t have to hate each other,”

“I don’t hate you, I just don’t  _ trust  _ you,” Jackie told her bluntly. “You’ve got everyone thinking everything’s fine and normal about you. But I know there’s something off. You cheated tonight,”

“How do you cheat at bowling?” Skylar asked, confused. Do enhanced werewolf senses count as cheating?

“I don’t know, but you did,” The lacrosse captain insisted. “And I don’t know if it’s steroids or something weirder. I’m guessing weirder since it’s pretty obvious you’re a freak. So don’t think for a second I’ve given up on finding out what your little secret is,”

“I don’t have any secrets,” The Latina told her quickly, and she scoffed.

“Yes, you do,” Jackie said, seeing right through Skylar’s act. “And here’s the other thing. I don’t know why, but I think whatever it is you’re hiding, you don’t want him to know about it either,” She gestured toward Arthur, who was beaming as he returned his bowling shoes. “Especially him,”

~

The room was dark, the only brightness being the pulsing light measuring a heartbeat on the monitor screen. Behind a tree of IVs laid Grace Meyers, unconscious and breathing shallowly. A figure stood in the shadows beside the bus driver’s hospital bed. Suddenly, the figure moved, and the pulsing light illuminated the face of Derrine Hale. But the werewolf made no threatening motions. She just stared down at Meyers until the woman’s eyes fluttered open and they made eye contact.

“What do you remember?” Derrine asked, and Meyers paled.

“Hale…” The woman whispered.

“How do you know my name?” The werewolf demanded, surprised.

“I’m sorry,” The Meyers said, still whispering. Derrine doubted she was capable of speaking much louder in her state.

“How do you know me?” Derrine questioned, confused.

“ _ I’m sorry _ ,” Meyers repeated.

~

“I’m outta’ here,” Nurse McCall told his colleague. “There’s a DVR at home full of unwatched TV waiting to remind me how ridiculously single I am,” Before the man could go, however, his eyes fell on a row of monitors and he put his bag back down. “Ross, call a code. Room 137,” Melvin ran down the dimly lit hospital corridor as a voice spoke over the hospital PA system.

“ _ Dr. Blue, room 137. Dr. Blue, room 137, _ ” 

Melvin rushed into room 137 and yanked the curtain back. Grace Meyers laid there in her bed, motionless. Her eyes were wide open, staring at nothing, and the monitor displayed a flatline. The room was otherwise empty - Derrine was gone.

~

Skylar and Arthur walked up the Argent driveway, hand-in-hand. As they reached his front steps, they paused, looking at each other.

“So, um, do you think we could…” She paused, hating the phrase that was about to leave her mouth. “...  _ Hang out _ again?”

“Definitely,” He told her, smiling, snd she felt her nervousness slipping away. “But I have to admit something. I’m not big on group dates. Next time how about just you and me?”

“I think I could definitely handle more of that,” Skylar told him, beaming.

“Great,” He kissed her lightly on the lips. But, before he could turn away, Skylar took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down into a real kiss. As they pulled away, Arthur spoke again. “And I think I could handle more of  _ that _ ,” He echoed Skylar’s earlier words. She let go of him and headed over to the Argents’ garage, where her bike sat, propped against the door. Arthur waved to her as she mounted her bike and rode off.

Neither of them noticed Chris watching them from the living room window.

~

“Skylar!” Melvin called out as he headed to his room. “Skylar, I’m going to sleep,” He peered into her room, finding it empty. Not happy, Melvin turned to walk out of the room, but a sound makes him whirl back around, grabbing the baseball bat that Skylar had left leaning against her bedroom wall. He swung the baseball bat at the figure that had just tumbled through Skylar’s window and into her bed, almost hitting it before realizing who it was. “Stiles, what the hell are you doing?” He demanded of his daughter’s best friend, unconsciously repeating Skylar’s words from the night she had been bitten.

“What am  _ I _ doing?” Stiles repeated, exasperated. “God, do either of you even play baseball?” The light clicked on as Skylar walked into the room, confused.

“Can you please tell your friend to use the front door?” Melvin asked his daughter, overwhelmed.

“But we  _ lock  _ the front door,” Skylar pointed out obliviously. “She wouldn't be able to get in,”

“Yeah, exactly,” Melvin said pointedly. “And, by the way, do either of you care that there’s a police-enforced curfew?”

“No,” Skylar and Stiles answered him in unison and he threw his hands up into the air.

“No,” He repeated, exasperated, before sighing. “All right, then. Well, you know what? That's about enough parenting for me for one night, so  _ good night _ ,” As he left, Skylar looked to Stiles, noticing that the Polish girl’s expression was far more serious than was to be expected.

“What?” Skylar asked, growing tense as she realized that something was wrong.

“My mom left for the hospital fifteen minutes ago,” Stiles told her hesitantly. “It’s the bus driver, they said she succumbed to her wounds,”

“‘Succumbed’?” Skylar repeated, confused, and Stiles sighed.

“She’s dead, Sky,”

~

The burnt-out Hale house loomed ominously, tattooed with ragged shadows from the trees surrounding it and blocking the moonlight. The front door slammed open and Skylar’s silhouette stood in the frame.

“Derrine!” The teenage werewolf yelled into the house. “I know you’re here. And I know what you did!” No reply came and Skylar was left staring into the shadows of the dark shell of the house. She entered, letting the door shut behind her, and cocked her head as Derrine’s voice floated out of the darkness.

“I didn’t  _ do _ anything,”

“You killed her!” Skylar was angry. How dare she How dare she [retend to help, how dare she kill these innocent people, and how dare she deny it after!

“She  _ died _ ,” Derrine insisted impatiently.

“Like your brother  _ died? _ ” Skylar scoffed.

“My brother was  _ missing _ ,” Derrine said, still out of sight. “I came here to  _ find _ him,”

“You found him-”

“I found him in pieces and being used as bait to catch me,” The older werewolf growled.

“I think you killed them both,” Skylar determined. “And I’m going to tell everyone. Starting with the Sheriff-” She was cut off as Derrine hurtled out of the darkness and sent her smashing into the wall. Skylar hit the wall hard and the plaster cracked as she fell to the floor. She quickly got up on her hands and knees, refusing to be Derrine’s next victim.

As she looked up, she shifted. She was a werewolf. She jumped up and lunged, smashing into the still-human Derrine. Skylar’s attack was relentless and brutal. The second Derrine managed to tear her off, Skylar was back on her. They stumbled and smashed through a burnt door, sending splinters flying and tumbling down a set of stairs and into the rotted basement. As Skylar splashed down onto the waterlogged floor, Derrine shifted, eyes glowing blue.

Skylar tried to run, but Derrine grabbed her by the neck and slammed her back down into the water. The younger werewolf tried to fight back, but Derrine slashed through her shirt and sent blood flying. Skylar fell back, coming back to the surface a moment later, back in her human form. Derrine roared in rage and Skylar shut her eyes, preparing to die, but when she opened them again, Derrine had stepped back and gone back to normal as well.

“I didn’t kill her, neither of us did,” Derrine told her. “It’s not your fault and it’s not mine,” Skylar slowy stood, beaten, but eyes dtill defiant.

“This  _ is _ you fault. All of this,” Skylar insisted. “You ruined my  _ life _ ,”

“No, I didn’t,” Derrine sighed impatiently. Why did it have to been a  _ teenager _ .

“You bit me,” The younger threw at her.

“No,  _ I didn’t _ ,” Derrine rebutted, and Skylar looked at her, shocked. “I’m not the one who bit you,” Skylar stared at her, but she showed no signs of lying. Suddenly, another memory came back to her-

_ Skylar charges through the darkened parking lot, slammed through the open door, and flew down the aisle towards the back of the bus. Pressed against the back door, Meyers pleads for her life, sobbing. And between the woman and Skylar, a monstrous, animal-like figure looms, silhouetted against the windows. The black shape turns towars Skylar with glowing red eyes and a clawed hand slashes at her and she stumbles back, blood dripping from her sternum. _

Skylar pulled her hand away from her chest in disbelief, staring blankly at Derrine as she realized what this meant. Because Derrine’s eyes glowed  _ blue _ , not red. Which meant…

“There’s another,” The Latina whispered in horror. Derrine paused for a moment, remembering the fear she had felt when she realized that it had been too long since Laurancec had contacted her. Remembering the pain of coming back to Beacon Hills to find that yet another of her family, the only one she really had left, had been murdered by this  _ thing _ .

“It's called an alpha. It's the most dangerous of our kind,” Derrine told her. “ You and I, we’re betas. This thing... it’s more powerful, more animal than either of us. My brother came here looking for her, trying to stop her. Now I’m trying to find her. And I don’t think I can do it without you,”

“Why me?” Skylar asked, and Derrine gave her a grave look. 

“Because she turned you. You’re part of her pack,” Derrine frowned. “It's you, Skylar. You're the one she wants,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I named the unnamed lacrosse player and deputy, because I like referring to people as their names as often as possible without sounding redundant. I also made bisexual!Stiles and bisexual!Scott a thing because that is my hugest Teen Wolf headcanon (that and Danny and Jackson totally did some sexual experimenting together). 
> 
> Stiles is my second oldest bicon (Jackson is my first because when I first started watching Teen Wolf, I was too young and naive to pick up on subtext like that and I also didn't know that bisexuality was a thing, so Jackson was the first person I really saw as liking both and that meant a lot to my poor, confused, bisexual ass).
> 
> Also, Danny was totally both of theirs bisexual awakening. That's gotta be a thing. I think Stiles might have come off as crushing on him/her in this chapter, which... might be the case. I'm not sure yet. I might make that a thing, if only for a bit.
> 
> I also gave Derek/Derrine an older sister, but it isn't really important, since she's dead. 
> 
> The scene where Stiles and Scott is a deleted scene. It was written, but I don't know if it was ever filmed and it definitely wasn't in the episode, but I wanted to include it. I found the scripts for the episodes (https://sites.google.com/site/tvwriting/us-drama/show-collections/teen-wolf). It only goes to 03x12, but that's a problem for future!me.
> 
> Now that I'm going back through all these episodes, I've realized how much of a bitch Lydia was to Jackson. Like, you gotta feel some sympathy for the guy, his girlfriend is blatantly flirting with others (including her friend's dad? Wtf?) sometimes right in front of him. Not to mention she literally cheated on him for five minutes with Scott...
> 
> This chapter was twenty-three pages long, so... I think these are going to continue getting longer and longer...
> 
> In other news, "awkward" is such an awkward word, which is really fitting.


	4. Magic Bullet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a new werewolf hunter in town, and his first target is Derrine. What is in his bullets? A wounded Derrine is soon forced to seek help from Skylar and Stiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished Pack Mentality, posted it, and immediately started on this chapter, so...

“And in other news, local authorities remain perplexed by the animal attacks plaguing Beacon Hills-” The radio announcer’s voice cut out as Kurt Argent clicked his car radio to another station. The man drummed his fingers on the wheel to the beat of the music that now sounded through the car, but a sudden thump caught his attention and he slowed to a stop in the middle of the road. Turning off the radio, he glanced in the rearview mirror, but the road behind him was empty.

Kurt cranked the radio up again and resumed driving, but an unease had slipped over him, clouding his previous good mood. And for good reason - behind him, a pair of glowing red eyes snapped open, staring after him in the darkness.

As he drove, the blond seemed to sense that he was being watched, and glanced out the window, where a dark figure with glowing eyes had been keeping pace with his car and vanished almost the exact moment that Kurt looked. As he stared into the darkness, he didn’t almost didn’t notice the red light he was coming up to. He turned, gasping, and slammed the brakes.

“Nice, Kurt,” He muttered to himself. “Nice driving,” He snapped the radio off and waited in silence for the light to turn green. When it did, however, he didn’t get the chance to move his foot off the brake before he heard a loud  _ thump _ from the roof of his car. His eyes darted up and he sucked in a breath. He looked out the passenger window, into the inky dark woods, and a clawed hand burst through the driver’s side window, grabbing at him from the roof.

The clawed hand dragged the blond man by his jacket towards the roof of the car, but Kurt struggled, reaching for something out of sight. He gave a slight grunt as he finally grabbed ahold of the object he had been searching for and raised the gun, blasting a hole in the roof of his car. The clawed hand released him and he slammed the passenger door open, rolling out and into a crouch in one fluid, practiced motion. But there’s nothing on the roof of his car.

“Come on,” He muttered as he turned toward the woods, searching for the werewolf and aiming his gun. He pointed it up and shot straight into the sky.

~

Skylar laid awake under her covers, unable to fall asleep, and suddenly bolting upright as she heard a gunshot rip through the quiet night air. She scrambled out of bed and yanked on a pair of jeans as she heard another.

~

Broken glass crunching under his shoes, Kurt tossed his gun back into the trunk of his now semi-destroyed car. The hunter pulled out a black bag, producing from it a rifle with a scope, which he loaded with bullets from a blue steel case. He turned around, turning on a mag light and sweeping the ground. As he caught sight of blood on the pavement, he pulled out his phone, sending a text.

~

Chris hurried down the front hall of the Argent house, carrying a dark bag. On the second floor stairs, Arthur rubbed his eyes, having been woken by his mother’s frantic scramble out the door.

“What’s going on?” The teen asked groggily, voice still thick with sleep.

“Your Uncle Kurt just texted,” Chris informed her son. “I’m going to pick him up,”

“It’s two in the morning,” Arthur pointed out, frowning. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, he’s just having a bit of car trouble,” Chris said breezily. 

“It’s not serious, is it?” Arthur asked, concerned for his uncle.

“No, it’s just a flat,” Chris lied. “Go back to bed, sweetheart,”

~

Derrine, in human form, knelt to inspect the bloodstains in the loose gravel. Movement up ahead caught her attention and she peered into the shadows, making eye contact with glowing red eyes for a moment before the shadowy figure turned and fled the scene. Derrine lept up and gave chase, quickly picking up speed. She took a running leap and -  _ bang! _ She tumbled to the ground.

Kurt peered out from behind his rifle scope, smirking happily as he watched the dark-haired werewolf fall. Headlights appeared from around a corner and a black SUV slowed to a stop beside him. The windows rolled down and Chris gave Kurt a look.

“Get in,” She commanded him sternly.

“What? Not even a ‘Hello’ or a ‘Nice to see you’?” Kurt pouted sarcastically.

“All I’ve got at the moment is ‘Please put the assault rifle away before someone notices’,” She responded impatiently, and Kurt laughed.

“ _ That’s _ the big sister I know and love,” He said playfully as he climbed into her car. They drove a little ways away to Kurt’s ruined car. Chris’ SUV skidded to a stop and the brother and sister climbed out. “Chris, there were two of them,” He told his sister seriously, and she frowned.

“The alpha?”

“I don’t know,” He admitted. “But one of them tried to kill me,”

“ _ One of them _ is going to lead us to the other,” She gave her brother a look. “And they can’t do that if they’re dead,” Kurt scoffed.

“Well, I can’t kill  _ either of them _ if one of them  _ kills me first _ ,” Skylar peered around the tree she was hiding behind as Kurt offered his rebuttal, listening in on the hunters’ conversation with glowing gold eyes.

“How long will it take,” Chris sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I give her forty-eight hours,” Kurt told her. “If that,”

~

Derrine leaned against the brick wall of the alley, panting and inspecting the wound on her left arm. It wasn’t healing, but that wasn’t the strangest part. Slim tendrils of smoke wafted out of the strangely glowing wound.

_ Kurt hadn’t shot her with an ordinary bullet. _

~

A shriek of joy pierced the morning air of the Argent house and uncle and nephew embraced, thrilled to see each other.

“Arthur!” Chris admonished from the other room as her son ruptured her eardrums. He and Kurt let go of each other, laughing. The guest room is a mess, Kurt being halfway through unpacking his things.

“Okay, I don’t see you for a year and you turn into a freaking runway model?” Kurt complimented Arthur, who flushed. “Look at you! I hate you!”

“I haven’t even showered yet!” Arthur groaned.

“You’re a knockout,” Kurt told his nephew. “In fact, I hope you have the girls knocking each other's teeth out for your attention,”

“I sorta have one,” Arthur told his uncle shyly.

“You should have a million,”

“Need some help unpacking?” The brunet asked, flushing harder as he reached for one of his uncle’s bags - a large, black one. Kurt quickly grabbed the boy’s wrist, startling him.

“Not that one,” Kurt said before giving an awkward laugh as Arthur rubbed at his wrist. “See what I mean? You turn out beautiful and I grow up with a KungFu death grip. Sorry to be so rough,”

“No worries,” Arthur said warily. “Everything okay with your car?” He asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Kurt lied as he entered the guest bathroom. “Just needed a jump-start,”

“Jump-start?” Arthur muttered, confused. He could have  _ sworn _ his mother had said Kurt’s car had had a flat…

~

Skylar sat at her desk, knee bouncing nervously as the teacher came closer with the students’ graded tests. Behind her, Stiles leaned closer.

“If Derrine isn’t the alpha - if she’s not the one who bit you - then who did?” She asked Skylar in a whisper.

“I don’t know,” Stiles sat back for a moment, thinking, before leaning forward again.

“Did the alpha kill the bus driver?” She asked, still whispering.

“I don’t know,” Skylar sighed. Stiles flopped back for a moment before leaning forward  _ again _ .

“Does Arthur’s mom know about the alpha?”

“ _ I don’t know! _ ” Skylar yelled angrily at her friend before realizing that everyone was staring at her. The teacher finally dropped her test on her desk; a D-, the message underneath reading  _ Not like you! What’s happening? Please see me after class. _ Stiles peered over her shoulder at the grade. 

“Dud, you need to study more,” Skylar folded her arms on her desk and leaned her forehead against them with an overwhelmed groan. “That was a joke,” Stiles clarified. “It’s  _ one test _ , Skylar. You’re  _ gonna _ make it up. Do you want help studying?”

“No, I’m studying with Arthur after school today,” Skylar told her.

“That’s my girl!” Stiles crooned proudly.

“We’re just studying,” Skylar told her pointedly.

“Um, no, you’re not,”

“We’re not?”

“Not if I’m forced to live vicariously through you,” Stiles told her, exasperated. “If you go to his house today and squander that colossal opportunity, I swear to  _ God _ , I’ll have your ovaries professionally removed. Got it?”

“Okay,” Skylar sighed. “Just… stop with the questions, will you?” Stiles nodded.

“Done. No more questions. No more talk about the alpha, or Derrine...  _ especially  _ Derrine... who still scares me…” The Polish girl admitted, rambling a bit. Thankfully, she did have  _ some _ brain-to-mouth filter sometimes and didn’t blurt out how  _ hot _ she thought Derrine was.

~

The school halls were filled with colorful crowds of teenagers, hurrying along to their classes while simultaniously trying to stay out of their classrooms for as long as humanly possible. This resulted in students crowding around lockers and outside the door to their next class, chatting and laghing. But, as the warning bell rang, students began to disperse, finally making their way to their next class. As the hallway cleared of people, Derrine stepped in.

She was pale, with dark bags staining the skin below her eyes. Bloodied bandages peeked out from under the edge of her jacket sleeve, the dark leather accentuating her pale-ness. A remaining student or two stare at her briefly, but she didn’t notice, instead moving with focus toward one student still at their locker. Jackie looked over and saw Derrine headed straight for her, taking an involuntary step backwards.

“Where’s Skylar McCall?” The dark-haired werewolf asked the teenager tiredly.

“Why should I tell you?” Jackie scoffed, and Derrine looked at her.

“Because I asked you politely,” The older woman said. “And I only do that once,”

“Okay, tough girl, I’ll help you find her,” Jackie said, unimpressed. “But ony if you tell me what you’re selling her. What is it? Dianabol?”

“Steroids?” Derrine questioned, frowning.

“No, Girl Scout cookies,” Jackie replied sarcastically. “What the hell do you  _ think _ I’m talking about?” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, and, by the way, I’d stop sampling the merchandise if I were you. You look  _ wrecked _ ,”

“Nevermind, I’ll find her myself,” Derrine sighed, turning to go, but Jackie grabbed her shoulder.

“Uh, no, we’re not done here,” Jackie tried to assert, but Derrine grabbed her by the neck, choking her. Jackie grabbed at the Derrine’s hand, trying to pry the older woman’s fingers from her throat as she struggled to breath. Suddenly, Derrine seemed to realize what she was doing and quickly let go of Jackie, who slid down against the lockers, gasping for air and clutching her throat. Derrine looked down at her claws, dripping with Jackie’s blood, with mounting horror and notices blood drip onto the floor from Jackie’s wounds, which must have been on the back of her neck, covered by her hair.

Still gasping, Jackie looked up to see Derrine escape around the corner. Noticing the blood on the floor, she reached up to touch the back of her neck. Her fingers came away bloody.

~

Derrine slumped against a row of lockers, far away from Jackie, and thought. She was weakened and losing control, so she decided to try a different tactic. She listened hard, hearing students gossiping, teachers lecturing, cell phone buttons clicking, until finally -

“ _ Skylar’s coming over? Tonight? _ ”

“ _ We’re just studying together, _ ”

~

“‘Just studying’ never ends with ‘just studying’,” Lyall insisted as they walked side-by-side down the stairs. “It’s like getting into a hot tub - eventually, someone’s going to cop a feel,”

“So, what are you saying?” Arthur asked anxiously.

“I’m  _ saying _ to make sure you cover up!” Arthur gives the red-head a confused look. “Do it with her with a condom, genius!”

“Are you kidding?” Arthur asked, incredulous. “After  _ one date? _ ”

“Don’t be a total prude,” He said, shrugging. “Give her a little taste,”

“Well, I- I mean,” The brunet stuttered nervously. “How much is a ‘little taste’?”

“Oh, God,” Lyall groaned. “You really like her, don’t you?”

“Well, she’s just- she’s just  _ different _ ,” Arthur said. “When I first got here I had this plan: no girlfriends until college. I move too often. But when I met her, she was different. I can’t explain it,”

“I can,” Lyall claimed. “It’s your brain flooding with phenylethylamine,” Arthur gave him a confused look and Lyall sighed. “I’ll tell you what to do. When’s he coming over?”

“Right after school,” Arthur answered quickly. Down the hall, Derrine glanced at the clock on the wall proclaming it to be 2:30 as the bell rang. Students poured out of their classrooms, eager to leave, and Derrine slipped out of an exit.

~

Students rushed the parking lot, anxious to be done with the school for the day. Stiles hopped into her Jeep, pulling out and swinging toward the exit, but Derrine jumped out in front of her and she slammed on the brakes, shrieking. All the cares behind her squealed to a stop as well, nearly causing a pile-up in the school parking lot. Over at the bike rack, Skylar looked up to see what all the commotion was.

“Oh, no,” The Latina said as she watched Derrine collapse in front of the Jeep. “No, no, no, no, not here!” She ran over as Stiles jumped out of the driver’s side. “Dudw, what are you doing here?” She asked Derrine.

“I was shot,” Derrine muttered, struggling to speak.

“She’s not looking so good, Sky,” Stiles pointed out. Derrine tried to push herself up and Skylar and Stiles kneeled next to her.

“Why aren’t you healing?” Skylar asked, alarmed.

“I can’t,” Derrine groaned painfully. “It was a differnt kind of bullet-”

“A silver bullet?” Stiles asked, and Derrine glared at her.

“No, you idiot-”

“Wait a second,” Skylar breathed out as she realized something. “That’s what he meant when he said you had forty-eight hours!”

“What?” Derrine asked. “Who- who said forty-eight hours?”

“The guy who shot you,” Suddenly, Derrine’s eyes began to glow blue as she sucked in a pained breath. “What are you doing?” Skylar asked, exasperated. “Stop that!”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” The older woman groaned. “ _ I can’t _ ,” Skylar struggled to lift and support her as horns blared behind Stiles’ Jeep.

“Derrine, get up!” Skylar insisted. “Help me put her in your car,” She said to Stiles, who grabbed Derrine’s other arm. Climing out of their cars, Arthur and Jackie witnessed Skylar and Stiles pushing Derrine into the Jeep. As she slumped against the passenger seat, Derrine latched onto Skylar’s arm.

“I need you to find the same kind of bullet,” Derrine told her. “ I have to know what they used,”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Skylar asked, incredulous.

“He’s an Argent,” The older werewolf muttered. “He’s with them,”

“Why should I help you?”

“Because you need me,” Derrine told her weakly.

“Fine,” Skylar sighed. “I’ll try,” She looked at Stiles, who was back in the driver’s seat. “Get her out of here,”

“I hate you for this,” Stiles said firmly as Skylar pushed the door shut and Stiles pulled away. The Latina turned back just as Arthur approached. 

“What was she doing here?” The brunet asked.

“Um, Stiles is giving ehr aride,” She said, not technically lying. “It’s a long story,”

“I thought you said you weren’t friends with her?”

“No, not really,” Skylar told him anxiously before changing the subject. “Um, we're still studying together, right? So, I'll meet you back at your place?”

“Yeah,” Arthur agreed, still unnerved. “I’ll see you there,” Rushing back to her bike, Skylar noticed Jackie staring at her suspiciously until Lyall approached her.

“Who was that?” The ginger asked his girlfriend.

“No one,” Jackie told him.

“She definitely looked like  _ someone _ ,” He insisted, but somethibg else caught her eye as Jackie pushed her hair back. “Hey, what’s that on your neck?” He asked.

“Nothing,” Jackie claimed, lifting a hand to feel at the cuts from Derrine’s claws. “Just a scratch,”

~

Skylar’s bike skidded to a halt in the Argent’s driveway, kicking up dust. Arthur stepped out of his car, staring at her as she gasped for air, obviously having pedalled like crazy to get there.

“How did you…?” Arthur gave a confused head shake. “You got here at the same time I did,”

“Oh, well, I-” Skylar cleared her throat. “I took a shortcut. A really  _ short  _ shortcut,”

“What’s going on with you today?” Arthur asked. “You’ve acting all kinds of bizarre,”

“I’m just… stressing about classes,” Skylar told half the truth. “I haven’t been doing as good this year,”

“Not doing as  _ well _ ,” Arthur corrected her, amused.

“See?” She laughed nervously.

“Maybe we should start with English,” Arthur joked, unlocking the front door. He turned back around when Skylar paused at the threshold. “Don’t worry. Nobody’s going to be home for hours,” With a cautios nod, she slowly followed him inside.

~

Skylar trailed behind Arthur as he opened his bedroom door, looking around at the bare walls and moving boxes. His closet seemed to be the only thing organized - likely thanks to Lyall - and his furniture was mostly bare beyond the essentials.

“I’m still unpacking…” He told her, seeing her look at the boxes.

“Um, haven’t you been here for over a month?” She asked confusedly. He smiled at her.

“I’m taking my time,” Skylar sat down on his bed, still nervous, and opened her backpack, beginning to yank books out. She had not forgotten that she was in a hunter’s house. That Arthur’s family were hunters that wanted to kill her - that had  _ tried _ to kill her. And Derrine. Who was dying. 

“I know you wanted to start with history,” She said as she pulled her books out of her backpack. “So I brought the study sheets from-” The werewolf cut herself off as she looked up and realized her boyfriend was standing over her.

“How about we start with something else?” Arthur asked, and Skylar nodded. He cupped her face with his hands as he leaned down to kiss him, softly at first, but getting more intense as she pulled his closer. They fell back on the bed, Skylar slipping up to be on top of him. As Arthur grabbed her by the waist, she brought her arms up to his shoulders and noticed her nails sharpening into claws. She pulled away. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” She claimed, clenching her hands and shoving them into the bed to hide her claws. “I just- I- I don’t want to make you feel like you have to do something you don’t wanna do,”

“I’m not doing anything I don’t want to,” He replied flirtatiously. “Are you?”

“You’re seriously asking me that?” Skylar asked, deadtone, giving Arthur a look. He smiled at her and leaned up to kiss her again, but her phone rang. She didn’t move, keeping her hands hidden in the bed.

“Are you going to answer that?” Arthur asked her, and she shook her head.

“It’s probably just Stiles,” The phone kept ringing. “It’ll go to voicemail,” The phone kept ringing. “Eventually,” Finally getting fed up with listening to it ring, Arthur reached to grab it out of Skylar’s jacket himself. When she instinctively raised her hand to stop him, she was relieved to find that her claws had receded. He handed her phone over just as it beeped out a notification - she had a text from Stiles.

_ Did you find it yet? _

~

_ Need more time _ . Stiles glanced at Skylar’s text as she drove, Derrine slumped against passenger seat window. The dark-haired werewolf shuddered as a wave of pain overtook her, clutching at her wounded arm.

“Try not to bleed out on my seats, okay?” The teenager said. “We’re almost there,”

“Almost  _ where? _ ” Derrine asked trhough her gritted teeth.

“Your house,”

“What?” The woman jerked, alarmed. “No, you can’t take me there,”

“I can’t take you to you  _ house? _ ” Stiles scoffed incredulously.

“Not when I can’t  _ protect _ myself!” Stiles slammed the braked and the Jeep jerked to a stop in the middle of the road.

“What happens if Scott doesn’t find your magic bullet?” Stiles sighed. “Are you  _ dying? _ ”

“Not yet,” Derrine denied. “I have a last resort,”

“What do you mean? What last resort?” Derrine didn’t answer, instead shoving her sleeve up her arm to expose her gunshot wound. Stiles gagged. “Oh, my God. What is that?” The younger asked, groaning. “Oh, is that contagious? You know what, you should probably just get out,”

“Start the car,” Derrine growled weakly. “Now,”

“I don’t think you should be giving orders the way you look,” Stiles told her. “In fact, I think if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little werewolf ass out to the middle of the road and leave you for dead,” They stared at each other for a moment and  _ wow _ , Derrine’s eyes were  _ really _ green. Stiles snapped out of that line of thought. This was not the time.

“Start the car, or I’ll rip your throat out,” Derrine paused for a moment. “... With my teeth,” They stared at each other for a moment longer before Stiles turned back to face the wheel and started the car.

~

Arthur flipped the garage lights on and stepped in, Skylar following close behind her. The werewolf scanned the boxes as they passed the parked SUVs, searching for something to help Derrine. 

“So, I was nationally ranked as a kid,” He admitted, leading Skylar over to a shelf. “And my mom really wanted me to continue, but… I don’t know, I didn’t really like it,” He looked at her. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

“I promise,” Arthur pulled a wooden case off the shelf and clicked it open. When he turned around, he was aiming a compound bow at her. She slammed herself into the floor, thinking for a moment that Arthur, like his family, was a hunter and wanted her dead. “ _ What the hell is that? _ ” She asked, alarmed, as she raised her hands up to shield herself.

“It’s a compound bow,” He told her, laughing a bit. “And I’m pretty sure it requires an arrow to be harmful,”

“So,  _ that’s  _ what you’re good at?” Skylar questioned nervously. “Archery?”

“You said you wouldn’t laugh!” Arthur reminded her.

“Trust me,” Skylar said, still nervous. “I’m  _ not  _ laughing,” Skylar’s jaw dropped as he moved to put the case back and she caught sight of a wall full of shotguns, rifles, pistols, revolvers, tactical knives, and just about every other waepon known to mankind. Skylar gazed at the veritble armory of weapons feeling like she was going to throw up.

“So, I guess I should explain,” Arthur said nervously, seeing Skylar’s face. “We’re not some kind of separatist gun nut family. My mom sells firearms to law enforcement,”

“Oh, that’s good,” She told him anxiously. A good cover. She glanced down to where, under all the guns, stacks and stacks of bullet cases sat on the floor. “Are you planning on joining the family business?”

“You tell me,” He smirked flirtatiously, backing her against the cage. “Would I look hot with a gun?”

“Hotter without,” Skylar told him, leaning in for a kiss. Suddenly, the garage door clanged open and Arthur dragged Skylar to hided behind one of the parked SUVs. Chris waked in carrying a large box and Arthur tugged Skylar closer, trying not to breath as his mother passed literally feet away from them.

“Chris, get your ass out of the fifties and help me with the groceries!” Kurt’s voice yelled from outside.

“Be right there,” Chris called back before looking around the SUV at Arthur and Skylar. “You kids mind helping?”

“Sure,” Arthur agreed awkwardly.

“No problem,” Skylar told her, flashing back for a moment to the woman putting an arrow through her arm.

“Great,” She gave Skylar a fake smile. “Thank you,” Without another word, the woman headed back into the house. Skylar and Arthur followed, sharing a worried look.

~

Skylar grabbed the last grocery bag out of the trunk of the car parked in the Argents’ driveway and handed it to Chris as her phone buzzed. She pulled it out and looked down at the message from Stiles:  _ Derrine’s not looking good. _ She looked up, realizing that she had to find a way back inside the house.

“Do you want to keep studying?” She asked Arthur.

“I think he’ll be able to concentrate better on his own,” Chris told her pointedly before turning a motherly glare on Arthur.

“I guess I’ll see you later then?” Skylar asked her boyfriend awkwardly.

“At school,” Chris told her firmly and Skylar nodded quickly in agreement. “You, on your bike,” She told Skylar. “And you, inside,” She turned to Arthur. The boy reluctantly listened to his mother, turning to the door as Skylar watched desperately. There would be no getting back inside. No finding the bullet.  _ No saving Derrine. _ Until Kurt came outside from the garage.

“Come on, Chris, really?” The man asked his sister exasperatedly. “They were making out in the garage, not shooting amateur porn,” He turned to Skylar. “You, with the adorable brown eyes. Drop the bike. You’re staying for dinner,” Chris shot her brother a look, but relented.

“You eat meat?” She asked defeatedly, holding the door open for Skylar as the girl nodded.

“You don’t mind?”

“Actually, no,” The woman answered. “It’ll give us a chance to get to know each other,” She gave Skylar an unnerving smile as the entered the house and Chris shut the door. Although, she supposed it was a good thing that she was back inside, because not only did she need to find that bullet for Derrine, but she had just realized that she left her backpack in Arthur's room.

~

“She doesn’t hate you,” Arthur told Skylar as the two of them set the table together. “She’s just protective,”

“She hates me,” Skylar corrected.

“I wouldn’t call it hate,” Protested Arthur, and Skylar looked at him.

“Intense dislike?”

“That’s closer to it,” He admitted, and she sighed.

“Should I just not say anything?”

“No, I want you to say stuff. Just don’t say anything stupid,” She looked at him. “Not that you’re going to. Just be the amazingly charming, sweet girl you always are. Be yourself. She’ll like you if you’re confident,”

“Do I look confident?” She asked him.

“You will when you stop sweating,” She gave a low whine, rubbing her hand down her face. “You’ll be great. I’m not worried,” As he turned and walked to the kitchen, the brave mask she had put on in an attempt to soothe his girlfriend dropped. She wasn’t just worried, she was terrified.

~

Skylar sat by Arthur’s side at the dinner table, glancing back and forth nervously between Chris, Victor, and Kurt. As they quietly ate, Skylar’s phone vibrated and she quickly hit ignore.

“Would you like something to drink besides water, Skylar?” Victor asked.

“Um, no, I’m good, thanks,” She answered nervously.

“We could get you a beer,” Chris offered, looking at Skylar intensely.

“N-no thanks,” The Latina answered.

“A shot of tequila?”

“Really, mom?” Arthur groaned, annoyed.

“I’m not old enough to drink,” Skylar pointed out.

“That doesn’t seem to stop many teenagers,” Victor told her quietly.

“Well, it should,” Skylar answered quickly.

“Good answer,” Kurt complimetn, chuckling. “Total lie, but well played, Skylar. You may yet survive the night,” Skylar smiled at him. He may havebeen a psycho bastard that shot Derrine with some sort of magic bullet, but right then, she was just grateful that there was someone who was on her side at that dinner besides Arthur.

“You ever smoke pot?” Chris demanded and Kurt sighed.

“Okay, changing the channel to something a little less conservative…” He turned to Skylar. “Arthur says you’re on the lacrosse team. I don’t know much about it. How do you play?”

“Um, well, you know hockey?” She asked, trying to think of how to explain it without taking forever. “It's a lot like that, only, um, played on grass instead of ice,”

“Hockey on grass is called  _ field hockey _ ,” Chris glared.

“Oh, right, yeah,” Skylar realized awkwardly, stuttering a bit.

“So it’s like field hockey except the sticks have nets,” Arthur told his mother, helping Skylar out. Skylar’s phone vibrated again and she pulled it out, looking at Stiles’ text.

_ CALL ME!!! _

“Can you slap check like hockey?” Kurt asked eagerly.

“Yeah,” Skylar answered, putting her phone away. “But only the gloves or the stick,”

“Sounds violent,” The blond man observed, smirking. “I like it!”

“Skylar’s amazing, too. Mom came with me to the first game,” Arthur cut in before turning to his mother. “Wasn’t she good?”

“She was fine,” Chris admitted irritably.

“She scored the last shot. The  _ winning  _ shot,”

“True, but she didn’t score at all until the last few minutes,” She pointed out.

“Her last shot ripped a hole through the goalie's net,” Arthur told his uncle, rebutting his mother’s point. “It was _ incredible! _ ”

“I think the goalie probably had a defective stick,” Chris argued. “But yeah, Skylar played well,” Arthur slammed his hands down on the table at his mother’s words, and Skylar could hear her heartbeat speeding up in anger.

“You know, on second thought,” Skylar started, drawing the table’s attantion. “I’ll take that shot of tequila,” There was a moment of awkward silence before Kurt laughed and Chris cracked a reluctant smile. Skylar intertwined her fingers with Arthur’s under the table and his face softened as he sat back down.

“You  _ were _ kidding, right?” Chris asked for clarification moments later, and Skyar gave an awkward sigh.

~

“What am I supposed to do with her?” Stiles asked Skylar over the phone, sitting in her Jeep.

“ _ Take her somewhere _ ,” Skylar told her from the Argents’ house, keeping her distance from the dining room. Stiles looked over to Derrine, who was breathing hard and leaning wearily against the passenger door. The woman’s eyes were shut tight against the pain.

“Yeah, and, by the way,” Stiles spoke to Skylar again. “She’s starting to smell,”

“Like- like what?” Skylar stuttered, confused.

“Like  _ death _ ,” Derrine gave the girl a half-hearted glare.

“ _ Okay _ ,” Skylar was stricken by a sudden idea. “ _ Take her to the Animal Clinic _ ,”

“What about your boss?”

“ _ She’s gone by now _ ,” Skylar informed her. “ _ There’s a spare key in a box behind the dumpster in the back _ ,” 

“You are not gonna  _ believe _ where she’s telling me to take you,” Stiles said to Derrine, who grabbed the phone out of the younger girl’s hand.

“Did you find it?” The werewolf asked.

“ _ How the hell am I supposed to find one bullet? They have a million _ ,” Skylar panicked, looking around to make sure she was alone. “ _ This house is the freaking Walmart of guns! _ ”

“If you don’t find it, I’m dead,” Derrine pointed out.

“ _ I’m starting to think that wouldn’t be such a bad thing _ ,” Skylar muttered, frustrated.

“Then think about it this way,” Derrine snapped. “The alpha called you against your will. She’s going to do it again. And next time you either kill  _ with  _ her or you  _ get  _ killed. You need me. Find the bullet,” She hung up. Skylar slowly lowered the phone from her ear before turning to the door to the garage and opening it, peering inside.

“Lost?” She whipped around to find Kurt, standing at the end of the hallway.

“I was just looking for the bathroom…” Skylar lied quickly.

“Bathroom?” He questioned, amused. “Does that look like a bathrom to you?”

“No,” Skylar answered sheepishly.

“No,” Kurt nodded. “Use the guest bathroom,” He gestured behind himself.

“Okay, thanks,”

~

Skylar headed toward the bathroom door. She put her hand on the knob, about to turn it, when she noticed something. She stopped, blinking, as breathed in the familiar scent. She turned, glancing around, before slowly kneeling and pulling a large, black bag out from under the bed. She unzipped the bag to find a pile of floded clothes - underneath that, a steel case. He unclasped it, revealing the neat rows of pointed bullets. A shiver went down her spine as she noticed that one was missing. She grabbed one of the bullets and looked at it, eyes glowing gold as she did so.  _ She had found the bullet _ .

She shut the bullet case, staring at it. She ran her fingers over an ingraved image of a flower, suddenly getting an idea. She pulled out her phone, snapping a quick picture of the engraving and opening Google Goggles. Suddenly, the guest room door clicked open and she stuffed her phone back in her pocket, along with the bullet.

“What are you doing?” Arthur asked her.

“Just using the bathroom,” She claimed. “And now I’m done. So... I’m going back. To the other room,” She left the room, passing Arthur, as she pulled her phone back out, looking at the results that popped up in the app.

~

“Does ‘Northern Blue Monkshood’ mean anything to you?” Stiles asked Derrine, looking up from a text from Skylar.

“It’s a rare form of wolfsbane,” She informed the younger girl through her gritted teeth. “She has to bring me the bullet,”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to die without it,” Derrine told her weakly.

~

“I should really get going,” Skylar said as she entered the dining room, slipping her phone back in her pocket. “Thanks for dinner,”

“Oh, no, no, no. You need to stay for dessert,” Kurt proclaimed. “I want to hear more about you. Sit down,” Skylar reluctantly sat down at the table as her phone vibrated again.

“Arthur was just telling us that you work for a veterinarian,” Victor told her.

“I told them how you put the cast on the dog I hit,” Arthur clarified as she glanced down at Stiles text -  _ You need to get here NOW!!! _

“What does your boss think about all the animal attacks,” Chris asked the teenager. “Any theories?”

“Everybody’s saying it was a mountain lion,” Skylar lied, not wanting to tell the  _ werewolf  _ hunters that the current theory was  _ wolf _ . She didn’t want to give them any more reason to kill her.

“It’d have to be a pretty huge mountain lion,” Kurt scoffed.

“What do you think, Skylar?” Victor asked his son’s girlfriend.

“I wouldn’t really know,” The girl claimed. “We get mostly dogs and cats at the clinic. Nothing that vicious,”

“Ever had to deal with a rabid dog?” Chris asked. Skylar shook her head, having a bad feeling about where this was going. “I grew up with a lot of dogs. I saw one get rabies from a bat. It was transferred through the bite. Sad, but kind of fascinating. People think a rabid dog just suddenly goes mad. It’s actually a lot more gradual. The first stage is subtle changes in behavior. They’re restless, morose,” The table went quiet and oddly still as Chris spoke, a chill going down everyone’s spines, all for different reasons. “It’s the second stage that everyone knows. The “furious phase.” That’s when they attack. And we’re talking any moving object. Did you know a caged, rabid dog will break its own teeth trying to chew through the bars? It’ll even rear back and snap its own spine. Can you imagine the amount of force it takes to do that?” Skylar shook her head, her eyes having been going wider and wider with every word that Chris spoke - the young werewolf now resembled a cartoon owl. “It’s a complete character reversal. This harmless animal turns into a perfectly vicious killer. And it all starts with one bite,”

Skylar slowly looked from Chris, who had finally finished her chilling speech, to Kurt, who was holding back a grin, as if he had enjoyed the story about the dog’s demise. He probably had. It struck Skylar again how dangerous Arthur’s family was - and how willing to kill her they would be.

“But it died, didn’t it?” Arthur asked, oblivious to the murderuos tension of his own family.

“Well, yes,” Victor agreed. “Your grandmother shot it,”

“To put it out of its misery?” The boy asked for clarification.

“Because it was too dangerous,” Chris corrected. “Something that out-of-control is better off dead,”

~

Derrine clicked on a light and pulled off her shirt to reveal that the gunshot wound had only gotten worse. Darkened veins branched out from open sores while the rest of her arm had turned a sickening yellow color.

“Okay, you know, that really doesn't look like anything some echinacea and a good night's sleep couldn't take care of,” Stiles suggested weakly, gagging a bit.

“When the infection reaches my heart, it’ll kill me,” Derrine informed the girl, panting.

“Positivity just isn’t in your vocabulary, is it?” The woman began to pull drawers open, looking for something.

“If she doesn’t get here with the bullet in time…” She told Stiles. “... Last resort,”

“Which is?” Stiles watched as Derrine finally found what she was looking for - and pulled an electric bone saw out of one of the drawers. 

“You’re gonna cut of my arm,”

~

“I’m  _ so  _ incredibley sorry,” Arrthur apologized as he escorted Skylar to the front door.

“For what?”

“For that being the worst, most horribly awkward dinner ever in the history of horribly awkward dinners,”

“This wasn’t the worst,” Skylar reassured him. “There was the dinner where my parents told me they were getting divorced. This is a close second,” The two of them laughed a bit. Arthur grabbed Skylar by her jacket and dragged her in for a kiss, but she pulled bck. “Your mom is watching,” She pointed out. Sure enough, Chris was standing in the dining room doorway, staring at the two teenagers.

“Good,” He whispered to her, pulling her back in, and they kissed for a moment before finally pulling away. Skylar headed to the door, but was stopped.

“Wait a second, guys,” Kurt called.

“What is it?” Arthur asked, confused.

“I have to ask Skylar something,”

“Me?” The girl confirmed, perplexed.

“Yes, you,” He told her. “What did you take from my bag?”

“What?” Skylar played dumb, even as her heartrate skyrocketed.

“My bag. What did you take from it? You need me to repeat the question or enunciate any more clearly?” He stared at the Latina, perfectly calm.

“What are you talking about?” Chris asked, stepping forward.

“My bag was open in the guest room. It was zipped shut when I left it. Scott came in to use the bathroom. He left. My bag was open,”

“She didn’t take anything,” Arthur fired at his uncle. 

“ _ Something _ was taken from my bag. And I hate to be the accuser, Skylar, because I do like those adorable brown eyes. I don’t know if you’re a klepto, curious, or just stupid, but answer the question.  _ What did you take? _ ” Noticibly swallowing, Skylar shook her head.

“Nothing,” She claimed, terrified. “I swear,”

“You don’t mind proving it, do you?” Kurt asked the girl. “How about you show us what’s in your pockets,” Arthur looked to his mother, apalled, but Chris didn’t interfere. “Come on, Skylar. Prove me wrong,”

“Um,  _ I’ll _ prove you wrong,” Arthur told him angrily. “It wasn’t Skylar going through your bag. It was me,” All eyes in the room turned to the teenage boy standing beside Skylar.

“You?” Kurt questioned, incredulous.

“Me,” Arthur confirmed reaching into her pocket and pulling out and confidently holding up a condom. Skylar’s eyes widened and she glanced back at the oor and then at the condom in Arthur’s hand as Chris appeared as if she was having an existential crisis.

~

Skylar shut the door behind her and made a beeline for her bike with a glazed and utterly stunned expression plastered on her face. She mounted her bike as she heard the muffled arguing from inside the house. Then, as she realized what Arthur had to have had on his mind when he was going through Kurt’s bag, she smiled dumbly, finally pedalling away.

~

“What if you bleed to death?” Stiles asked as Derrine handed her the bone saw and tied a torniquet around her own arm, just above the affected area.

“It’ll heal,” She muttered, voice muffled by the rubber in her mouth. “If it works,”

“Look, I don’t know if I cna do this,” Stiles admitted.

“Why not?”

“Because of the cutting through flesh, the sawing of bone, and  _ especially  _ the blood,” Stiles told her, exasperated and slighlty grossed out by the mental image.

“You faint at the sight of blood?” Derrine asked her, incredulous.

“No,” Stiles denied. “But I might at the sight of a  _ chopped off arm! _ ”

“Alright, fine. How about this,” Derrine panted. “Either you cut off my arm or I’m gonna cut off your head,”

“Okay, you know what?” Stiles scoffed. “I am  _ so  _ not buying your threats anymore!” As soon as she was finished talking, Derrine grabbed her by the collar of her t-shirt and yanked her across the examining table. “Okay, bought, sold, I’ll do it,” Derrine released her, but not on purpose. The woman started gasping, choking and coughin on seemingly nothing. Suddenly, she hunched over and threw up a gross, inky black substance all over the floor. “Holy hell, what  _ is  _ that?” Stiles asked, gagging.

“It’s my body…” Derrine gasped. “... Trying to heal itself,”

“Well, it’s not doing a very good job,” Kneeling on the floor, Derrine looked up with glowing blue eyes.

“Now,” She gasped urgently. “You have to do this  _ now _ ,” Dragging herself up, the werewolf rested her infeted arm on the examining table.

“Oh go,” Stiles groaned as she rested the metal blade against Derrin’s arm, just above the tourniquet. The girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes, but just before she could pull the trigger, Skylar rushed in.

“Stiles?” The Latina werewolf called as she rushed in. Upon seeing the situation in front of her, she gasped. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Oh, Sky,” Stiles sighed in relief, dropping the bone saw. “You just saved me from a lifetime of nightmares,”

“Did you get it?” Derrine demanded, and Skylar held the bullet up. The older werewolf grabbed it from her.

“What’re you gonna do with it?” Before Derrine could answer, however, she collapsed onto the floor, unconcious. “No, no, no!” Skylar yelled as she chased the bullet rolling across the floor. It dropped into a grate and Skylar reacher her fingers in, but couldn’t reach it.

“Derek? Derek, wake up!” Stiles demanded desperately. “Skylar, what the hell are we going to do?”

“I don’t know - the bullet - I can’t reach it -” As Stiles yelled about Derrine being dead, Skylar strained for the bullet and her nails sharpened into claws, giving her just enough length to reach the only thing that could save Derrine. “ _ I got it! _ ”

“Please don’t kill me for this,” Stiles begged before slapping Derrine right across the face. As she staggered back, clutching at her aching hand, Derrine’s eyes snapped open.

“ _ Give it to me, _ ” She growled, struggling to her feet, and Skylar tossed her the bullet. The woman cracked the bullet open and pulled out a lighter, setting the wolfsbane inside on fire. Then, grinding the ashes into her bullet wound, she fell to the ground, screaming. It was an ear-shattering, earth shaking howl of agony. She tumbled back, sweat-soaked skin hitting the cold cement floor. Her arm fell to her side and in seconds, the open sores closed, wounds healed, skin returned to normal. Derrine’s eyes blinked open and she pushed herself slowly up off the floor. Gasing for breath, the werewolf finally stood upright.

“Are you okay?” Skylar asked.

“Except for the  _ agonizing pain _ ,” Came her smart-ass answer.

“I’m guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a sign of good health,” Stiles snarked back.

“We saved your life. That means you’re going to leave us alone. You got that?” Skylar demanded. “And if you don’t I go back to Arthur’s mom and tell her everything -”

“You’re going to trust them?” Derrine aksed, apalled. “You think they can help you?”

“Why not? They’re a lot freaking nicer than you are,”

“I can show you  _ exactly  _ how _nice_ they are,” Derrine growled.

~

“What are we doing here?” Skylar asked as they passed a sign on the hospital wall reading “Long-Term Care”, but Derrine didn’t answer. She just continued to lead Skylar to a room at the end of the hall. She shered the girl into a daark hospital room, drawing bakc the curtains to let in the moonlight, which revealed a woman sitting in a wheelchair, catatonic.

“My aunt,” Derrine told her. “Peyton Hale,” Derrine turned the woman’s wheelchair, revealing the hidden side of Peyoton’s face, which was scarred heavily from the fire. Skylar remebered reading about the fire. About the eleven deaths, the two absent, and the one survivor - if you could call her that. She remembered her curiosity from before.

“Is she a werewolf?” Skylar asked. “Like you?”

“She was,” Derrine confirmed. “Now, though, she’s barely human,” She sighed. “Six years ago my brother and I were at school when my house caught fire. Twelve people were trapped inside. She was the only survivor,”

“How are you so sure they set the fire?” Skylar asked.

“They were the only ones who knew about us!” Derrine snapped angrily.

“Then they had a reason,” Skylar claimed awkwardly.

“What reason?” Derrine asked, anger evident. “They say that they’ll only kill  _ adult werewolves _ , and only with  _ absolute proof _ ,” She shook her head. “My cousin was six! My sister was human! My aunt was innocent! My mother was pregnant! We had done nothing wrong! All we wanted was to live in peace! Tell me, what  _ justifies  _ this?” The woman asked, voice breaking as she re-lived her anger and grief. “ _ This _ is what they do. What  _ Arthur _ will do,”

“What are you doing?” A nurse demanded as he entered Peyton’s room. “How did you get in here?”

“We were just leaving,” Derrine assured him, emotionless mask back in place.

~

“Hey,” Arthur said, stepping outside and holding his phone to his ear. “Um, I just thought maybe I'd catch you before you went to sleep, but, uh... I wanted to say sorry again for tonight. So, call me,” As he hung up, he caught sight of Kurt’s car, in pristine condition. No sign of damage.

But, as he walked away, he felt something crunch beneath his foot. Looking down, he saw shards of glass, and he quickly made his way back to his uncle’s car. Inspecting the driver’s side window, he found that it wasn’t rolled down - it had been shattered.

It appeared that Kurt’s car had needed more than just a jump.

~

Chris watched her brother pace back and forth in front of the fireplace, casually flicking a lighter as he spoke with utter conviction.

“The one that attacked me was big. It had width and power. The one I shot was lean and fast-”

“That would be Derrine Hale,” His sister told him, interrupting his speech.

“Are we sure?”

“Mostly,” She shrugged.

“And we’re sure there’s just  _ two _ of them,” Kurt asked for confirmation.

“We’re not yet,” She answered. “But if Derrine’s still alive, she’ll lead us to the alpha,”

“Take the pack leader,” He smirked. “Then take the pack,”

“And we do it according to the  _ code _ ,” Chris reminded her brother pointedly. 

“You and your code,” Kurt rolled his eyes.

“It’s there for a  _ reason _ , Kurt,”

  
“Of course,” Kurt gave his sister a fake smile. “I  _ always  _ play by the rules,” He lied as he looked down at the lighter in his hand and remembered setting the Hale house aflame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I despise Kate Argent. She disgusts me on so many levels. I mean, she literally committed statutory rape - he molested an underage student while posing as a high school teacher so that she could trick him into telling her about his family's house so that she could trap his entire family in their basement and burn them alive. What the fuck? And Derek probably wasn't even the first - or last - time that she did that shit!
> 
> Chris also came off as a bit psychopathic during his Rabid Dog Speech, but honestly... I don't know. He's pretty morally ambiguous at first, but I like him a lot later on.
> 
> This chapter was twenty-five pages long and I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning to finish writing it.


	5. The Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Skylar continues her hunt for the alpha beast, there's another attack in town, and this time there's a witness - one who isn't telling the whole truth. Meanwhile, werewolf hunter Kurt taunts Derrine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I stayed up so late posting "Magic Bullet" that I slept through my alarm AND my sister telling me I was late for school, so... I missed my first three periods that day. I started writing this during study hall the same day, but it was the last week of the quarter (and the semester), so I put my writing on hold for a few days.

A fluorescent light flickered with an irritating buzz in the ceiling of the video store as an employee twisted it out of the socket. Standing on a ladder, the clerk put the old bulb down and twisted a new one in, but it continued with its vexatious flickering. Outside, in Lyall’s car, Lyall and Jackie were mid-argument.

“ _ Hoosiers _ is not only the best basketball movie ever made, it’s the best sports movie-”

“No,” Lyall interrupted.

“It's got Gen Hackman and Deserie Hopper!” Jackie tried eagerly.

“No,” He shot her down again.

“Lyall, I swear to  _ God _ , you’re gonna like it!” She was close to yelling now, frustrated.

“No,” Lyall told her stubbornly.

“I am  _ not _ watching  _ The Notebook _ again!” She burst out angrily.

~

“Can somebody help me find  _ The Notebook? _ ” Jackie called out as she searched the shelves, passing by the now-abandoned ladder and bulbs. She glanced around when no response came and noticed that no one was behind the cash register. “Hello? Anybody working here? Anybody at all?” When there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the store with her, she turned back to the shelf in front of her, oddly unnerved. Suddenly she noticed, through the wire shelving, two shoes on the floor, toes pointed upwards.

Jackie slowly moved around the shelf, terrified. As she rounded the corner, she finally discovered the clerk, lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood. She staggered back, horrified, and fell right into the ladder, which tumbled to the ground, wires snapping as it went. A spark flew from the light fixture and the store was plunged into darkness. Jackie heard movement from the dark abyss behind her and whirled around, but was unable to see anything. All she could tell was that, whatever this thing was, it was between her and the exit.

~

In the driver’s seat of his car, Lyall gazed into his camera phone, pursing his lips, and then flipped it around to watch the video of himself.

~

Jackie hid behind a shelf, trying to steady her near-hyperventilating breathing. This thing had killed the clerk, and now it might kill her. She didn’t want to die. As she crouched, one of the shelves rocked toward her, and, like dominoes, they all fell towards her, DVD’s flying everywhere. She moved to dart out of the way, but one of the shelves fell on her legs, pinning her to the floor. As she tried to pull her legs out from under the shelf, a dark figure loomed over her.

Jackie held still as the store went ominously silent, not even daring to breathe. Suddenly, she heard growling beside her head and felt a clawed hand brush against the wounds on the back of her neck, leftover from her brush with Derrine. The creature pulled back as if to strike, Jackie catching sight of gleaming fangs in the minimal light coming in from outside the store.

~

Lyall raised his camera, still recording himself, as the video store’s window exploded outward and a large, black shape hurtled past Lyall’s car. He spun around, camera still clutched tightly in his hand, his wide eyes staring out the window. The car door clicked open and Lyall shakily stepped out.

“Jackie?” He called quietly, terrified for himself and his girlfriend. He entered the video store, stepping carefully past the DVD cases strewn across the floor from the attack. “Jackie?” He caught sight of a woman’s hand jutting out from an overturned shelf. Slowly reaching out, his fingers trembling, he moved toward the limp arm. “... Jackie?”

“Don’t,” A voice came from behind him as he came close to touching the hand. He whirled around the find Jackie standing behind him, looking just as terrified as he felt. Suddenly, with an electric crackle, the lights flickered back on, exposing the bloodstains across the carpet. Lyall finally screamed.

~

“Did they forget my curly fries?” Sheriff Stilinski asked Stiles as the girl searched through the food bags.

“You’re not supposed to eat fries,” Stiles reminded her. “ _ Especially _ the curly ones,”

“I am carrying a lethal weapon,” The sheriff told her daughter. “If I want the curly fries, I will have the curly fries,”

“If you think getting rid of contractions in your sentences makes your argument any more legitimate, then you. Are. Wrong,” The girl informed her mother.

“ _ Unit One, do you copy? _ ” Dispatch called over the radio. Mother and daughter both reached for the CB at the same time, and Sheriff Stilinski threw Stiles a look.

“Sorry,” Stiles apologized. “Force of habit,”

“Unit One, copy,” Sheriff Stilinski said into the CB.

“ _ Got a report of a possible one eighty-seven _ ,” Dispatch announced as Stiles stuffed a few of her mother’s fries in her own mouth.

“A  _ murder? _ ” The girl asked through her mouthful of fries, both alarmed and excited at the same time.

~

Lights flashing, Sheriff Stilinski roared into the parking lot, pulling her cruiser up next to two of her deputies’. She turned to her daughter, a stern expression on her face.

“Stay. Here,” The sheriff enunciated, and Stiles groaned as she hurried over to confer with her deputies. She stared out at the destroyed store and gasped as she saw Lyall and Jackie being led out. She disregarded her mother’s words and got out of the car. “Get this place closed off,” Sheriff Stilinski ordered her deputies, turning away from the crowd of bystanders as Stiles pushed her way through.

“Lyall?” Stiles called out to the ginger boy, but he didn’t hear her as he and Jackie were lead away by a deputy.

“I’m fine,” Jackie lied, not wanting to be looked over by a doctor. “I don’t need to go to the hospital!” Noticing the commotion, the sheriff headed over, leaving her deputies to keep the onlookers back. “Why the hell can’t I just go home?”

“I hear ya, but the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard,” Sheriff Stilinski tried to soothe the girl. “They just wanna make sure you don't have a concussion,”

“What part of ‘I’m fine’ aren’t they getting?” Jackie asked snidely. “I want to go home,”

“And I understand that-” Jackie interrupted the sheriff’s sympathetic speech.

“No, you don’t understand. Which kind of blows my mind since it should be a pretty basic concept for a minimum wage rent-a-cop like you. I just want to go home!” She suddenly realized that everyone was staring at her with a strange sort of sympathy, including Stiles, who was far from happy about the “rent-a-cop” line. Suddenly, something else caught Stiles’ eye.

“Is that a dead body?” She asked loudly and the throng of onlookers rushed forward. Sheriff Stilinski turned and glared at her daughter, who shrunk back into the shadows. With everyone’s eyes focused on the video store, no one noticed Skylar and Derrine on the roof.

“Starting to get it?” Derrine asked Skylar, who slumped down.

“I get that she’s killing people. But I don’t get  _ why _ ,” Skylar told her. “I mean this isn’t standard practice, right? We don’t just go out in the middle of the night murdering everyone, do we?”

“No,” Derrine answered. “We’re predators but we don’t have to be killers,”

“So why is  _ she _ a killer?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” They turned and headed toward the opposite end of the roof, not noticing the huge spiral carved into the gravel as they walked across it.

~

“You know, I have a life too,” Skylar called out as she followed Derrine into the Hale house.

“No, you don’t,” Derrine corrected.

“Yes, I do!” Skylar yelled at her, angry. “ I don’t care what you say about her making me her pet-”

“Part of her pack,”

“Whatever!” The teen growled. “I have  _ homework _ . I have to be at a parent/teacher conference tomorrow because I’m  _ failing  _ Chemistry,”

“Do you want to do homework? Or do you want to not die?” Derrine snapped at her. “You have less than a week until the full moon. You don’t kill with her and she’s going to kill you,”

“Seriously, who  _ made _ these rules?” Came Skylar’s exasperated question.

“It’s a right of passage into her pack,” Came Derrine’s impatient answer.

“You know what  _ else _ is a ‘rite of passage’?” The younger asked. “ _ Graduating high school _ . And you don’t have to  _ kill  _ anyone to do it. How come you can’t find her yourself? Why don’t you just sniff her out when she’s human?”

“Because his human scent could be entirely different,” Derrine pointed out. “You have a connection with her, a link you can’t understand. If I can teach you to control your abilities, you can find her,”

“And if I find her, can you  _ stop _ her?”

“Not alone,” She shook her head. “We’re stronger in numbers. A pack makes the individual more powerful,”

“How am I supposed to help when I don’t have  _ any  _ clue what I’m doing?” Skylar demanded, vexed.

“I’m going to teach you,” The older werewolf told her. “Remember what happened that first night you were shot in the arm? Right after you were hit?”

“I changed back,” Skylar nodded.

“And when you were hit by her car? The same thing, right? What’s the common denominator?” Skylar shook her head and Derrine grabbed her hand, closing her fist over Skylar’s and breaking her bones. The Latina werewolf screamed and collapsed to her knees.

“What the hell is your  _ problem? _ ” The girl groaned painfully.

“It’ll heal,” The woman told her dismissively. 

“It still hurt!”

“And that’s what keeps you human,” Derrine pointed out. “ _ Pain _ ,” Skylar opened her hand and straightened her fingers, listening to the cracking sound of her bones snapping back into place. “Maybe you  _ will  _ survive,” The older werewolf said, impressed.

~

“It’s your birthday?” Skylar asked Arthur as he opened the locker, pendant hanging from his neck, and balloons fluttered out, tied to a birthday card. He looked over at Skylar and quickly tried to push the balloons back into his locker.

“Um, no, no,” He looked at his locker. “I mean, yes, but  _ please  _ don’t tell anyone. I don’t even know how Lyall found out,”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I don’t want people to know that I’m seventeen,” He answered quietly.

“You’re  _ seventeen? _ ” Skylar clarified.

“Yeah,  _ that’s  _ the reaction I was hoping to avoid,”

“Why?” She asked. “I mean, um, I get it. You had to repeat a year because of all the moving around, right?” He finally got his locker shut and immediately turned to her, kissing her soundly on the lips. “What was that for?”

“For  _ literally  _ being the first person to ever make the correct assumption,” Arthur told her. “Everyone else says ‘What? Were you held back? Are you stupid? Did you take the short bus?’”

“ _ That’s _ what you hear on your birthday?” She asked, appalled.

“Oh, yeah,” He confirmed. “All day long,”

“Then…” Skylar started, getting an idea. “What if we got out of here?”

“Skip class?”

“Yeah!” She told him, smiling. “The whole day!”

“You’re asking someone who’s never even skipped  _ one  _ class to bail on an  _ entire day _ ,” He informed her, and she nodded.

“See, that’s perfect,” Skylar interjected. “If you get caught they’ll go easy on you because you’re a first-time offender.

“What if  _ you _ get caught?” Arthur pointed out.

“Let’s just…” She shook her head. “Let’s try not to think about that,”

~

“Just a friendly reminder,- parent-teacher conferences are tonight!” Harris announced to the class, lighting the acetylene torch at her desk as Stiles sat down, looking around for Skylar. “Students below a C average are required to attend. I won’t name you since the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment. And has anyone seen Skylar McCall?” No one responded as Jackie came in, seeming slightly off. Everyone watched as she sat down and Harris crossed over to her. “Jackie, if you need to leave early for any reason... You let me know,” The girl glared at her teacher, annoyed by the pity.

“Everyone, start reading chapter nine,” Harris told the class, walking away from Jackie and towards Stiles. “And Miss Stilinski try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs. It’s chemistry, not a coloring book,” Capping her highlighter, Stiles leaned forward, towards Dani.

“Hey, Dani?” She whispered. “Can I ask you a question?”

“No,” The Hawaiian girl answered.

“Well, I’m going to anyway,” Dani looked up to the ceiling as if praying for help. “Um, did Lydia show up in your homeroom today?”

“No,”

“Can I ask you another question?”

“Answer’s  _ still _ no,” Dani sighed, knowing that Stiles was going to ask anyway.

“Does anyone know what happened to him and Jackie last night?” Stiles asked.

“She wouldn’t tell me,” Dani informed her hesitantly.

“But she’s your best friend,” Stiles pointed out, surprised, and Dani shrugged. “One more question-”

“What?” Dani asked impatiently, trying to read the chapter.

“Do you find me attractive?” Dani looked up sharply from her chemistry textbook but refused to look back at Stiles, who continued to lean forward more and more with every moment that passed. Finally, she leaned too far forward and toppled out of her chair.

~

“Maybe this is a bad idea,” Arthur said nervously as he and Skylar hurried to his car. “My mom would  _ kill  _ me if she found out,”

“Do you always follow your mom’s rules?” Skylar asked, amused.

“Not lately,” Arthur told her wryly, and she smiled.

“Good,” She looked at him. “Start the car,”

“Where are we going to go?” He asked as Skylar peered into the rearview mirror to see a school security car pulling up the lane.

“ I don’t know. Somewhere. Anywhere,”

“Nowhere I could be seen, right?” He asked anxiously. “I could get detention,”

“Please just start the car,” Skylar pleaded nervously.

“Or suspended,”

“Arthur! Car? Start? Now?” Finally, he started the engine and swerved out of the lot. Skylar let out a sigh of relief and leaned back against the passenger seat.

~

Steam poured into the locker room from the showers post-gym class as girls got ready for their next class. Jackie waited until the showers were empty to get in, still hiding the bite. As she left the shower, wrapping her towel around herself and heading to her locker, she noticed that the locker room was empty. She looked back and her heart stopped as she saw a pair of glowing red eyes behind the steam from the showers. She took a terrified step back as she raised her hand to cover the bite mark over her towel. Jackie was getting ready to bolt as the glowing eyes moved closer when a student stepped out of the steam, revealing the “glowing eyes” to be the girl’s earbuds. Jackie let go of the breath she had been holding, relieved, and turned around to find Derrine leaning against the lockers behind her. She jumped back, almost tripping over the bench.

“I-I don’t know where Skylar is,” She told the woman anxiously.

“I’m not here for Skylar,” Derrine corrected the teenager’s assumption. “I’m here for  _ you _ ,” Jackie flinched, backing away from the dark-haired woman until she was pressed against a row of lockers.

“Wh-wh-why me?” Jackie stammered. “I-I didn’t do anything,”

“No,” Derrine agreed. “But you saw something, didn’t you? Last night?”

“What? No,” The blonde teen shook her head wildly. “I didn’t- I didn’t see anything!”

“What was it, hm?” The werewolf smiled. “An animal? A mountain lion?”

“I didn’t see  _ anything _ ,” Jackie insisted. “I-I’m not lying! I swear!”

“Then calm down and say it again,”

“Say what?” The girl asked, confused. “That I’m not lying?”

“The other part. Tell me that you’re not lying. Slowly,”

“Why do you care?” Jackie demanded. 

“Calm down and say the words,” Derrine commanded, and Jackie took a deep breath.

“I didn’t see anything,” Jackie repeated slowly as Derrine listened closely to her heartbeat. It was steady. Jackie wasn’t lying, not technically. She was always much better at telling half-truths. She hadn’t  _ seen _ anything. It would have been hard to in the pitch black of the video store.

“One more thing,” Derrine grabbed Jackie by the chin and the girl shut her eyes tight, waiting for her neck to be snapped, but Derrine just turned her head and brushed her hair aside to look at the claw marks still on the back of her neck. “You should get that looked at,” And just like that, Derrine was gone.

~

Stiles hurried down the hall, pulling out her phone and quickly finding Skylar’s contact in her phone. She pressed the call button, barely resisting the urge to press it over and over until the damn thing connected faster. She lifted it to her ear as Skylar answered.

“ _ What? _ ” The teenage werewolf demanded.

“Finally!” Stiles gasped, exasperated. “Are you getting any of my texts?”

“ _ All nine million of them, _ ” Skylar answered, covering the phone so that Arthur couldn’t hear.

“You have any clue what’s going on?” Stiles asked. “Lyall’s totally MIA, Jackie looks like she had a time bomb inserted into her face, another random chick is dead, and you have  _ got  _ to do something about this,”

“ _ Like what? _ ”

“Something!” Skylar shook her head, even though Stiles couldn’t see her.

“ _ I’ll deal with it later _ ,” She whispered to her best friend before hanging up. She shut her phone down before looking up and realizing that Arthur was about to miss a turn. “Left, left, left, left!” She called out, slightly panicked, and Arthur slammed his foot on the brake with surprisingly fast reflexes, spinning the wheel like a stunt driver and making a sharp left turn. As Skylar slammed against her seatbelt, he put a protective hand over her chest.

“Sorry, sorry,” He apologized, placing his hand carefully back on the wheel. “I totally just soccer-dad’d you,”

“That’s alright,” She smiled at him. “We can pick up my femininity on the way back,” He laughed as they stopped at the edge of the woods.

~

Steaks of sunlight streamed through the branches, casting serene shadows on a well-worn, idyllic trail. But, even in the peaceful atmosphere, Skylar noticed that Arthur kept looking behind him and checking his phone.

“You’re so not okay with this, are you?” She asked him.

“I just feel like I need an alibi,” He answered anxiously.

“If we get caught I’ll say it was my fault,” She smiled as she looked at him.

“I don’t need you to take the blame for me,” He told her. “It was my choice too,”

“Good, ‘cause I’m totally going to blame you if I get caught,” Skylar joked, and Arthur looked at her.

“Oh, really?” He asked her, amused.

“Hell yeah,” She jokingly confirmed. “And they’d believe me. A totally hot guy asks me to skip the day with him? Like I’m going to say no,”

“So, you’d throw me under the bus? Just like that?” He laughed a bit.

“Throw, push, shove…”

“What if I decide to drag you down with me?” He grabbed her by the waist, pulling her closer.

“I’d just yell for help,”

“What if I did this?” He asked just before lightly kissing her on the lips.

“I’d scream for help,”

“And if I did this?” He tipped her chin up and kissed her deeply.

“I’d beg for mercy,” They smiled at each other.

~

Lyall laid in bed, glazed eyes staring up at the ceiling. He didn’t react as someone knocked on the door, not even turning to look as his father poked his head into the room.

“Lyall, there’s a Stiles here to see you,” Mr. Martin told him.

“What the hell’s a Stiles?” The boy asked, slurring. The man turned to Stiles with an embarrassed smile.

“He’s had a little something to ease his nerves,” He told the girl. “Go right in,” He turned and left as Stiles slipped inside the room and approached Lyall’s bed.

“What’re  _ you  _ doing here?” He looked at her weird.

“I wanted to make sure you were alright,” She told him.

“Why?”

“Because I was kind of worried about you,” Came Stiles’ answer, and Lyall looked at her. “You feeling alright?”

“I feel…  _ fantastic! _ ” He slurred, and she looked over at the prescription bottle on his nightstand.

“I bet you can’t say ‘I saw Suzie sitting in a shoeshine shop’ five times really fast,” She challenged him playfully.

“I saw shuzie-” He stopped and tried again. “I shaw-'' His gaze drifted, and his entire demeanor changed. “I saw-”

“What?” Stiles asked, sitting down beside him on the bed as he trailed off. “Lyall, what did you see?”

“Something…”

“Something?” Stiles urged. “A mountain lion?”

“A mountain lion,” He repeated slowly, not looking at her.

“You definitely saw a mountain lion?” She confirmed. “Or the cops  _ told  _ you it was a mountain lion?”

“A mountain lion,” He repeated, dazed, still staring off into space.

“What’s this?” Stiles asked, picking up a teddy bear from Lyall’s dresser and holding it up.

“A mountain lion,” Lyall nodded.

“Okay, you are so drunk,” Stiles determined, giving up.

~

Arthur followed Skylar s they made their way through the woods, going up steeper and steeper inclines. When they came upon another outcropping and Arthur struggled with the climb, Skylar looked at him in concern, but he quickened his pace, keeping up. The two of them slipped around a rocky corner, but when Skylar reached up to climb over the crest, Arthur lost his footing. Reacting quickly, she grabbed him with one hand while digging the claws of her other hand into a tree trunk above her.

“Are you okay?” Skylar asked him, breathing heavily.

“Yeah,” Arthur answered quickly, looking down for a moment. “I think you just earned your femininity back,” They shared a laugh as Skylar pulled them both to steady ground. Skylar looked down at her hand and realized that her claws were gone again, surprised and thrilled by her moment of control. When he looked over at Arthur, he was on his phone.

“What are you doing?” She asked as he sent a text.

“I’m just texting Lyall a thank you for the birthday stuff,” He answered her, not looking up from the small screen.

“No, if mine’s off, yours is too,” She insisted.

“So we’re totally disconnecting from the world?”

“We can handle it for one day, can’t we?” She smiled at him.

“Just this one text, and then I’m all yours,” He smiled back.

~

“I guess I should go,” Stiles said, looking down at Lyall as his eyes closed. “Let you get back to the whole post-traumatic stress thing,” She started to get up, but his hand closed around her wrist.

“Stay,” He insisted, still slurring.

“You want me to stay?” She asked, disbelieving.

“Yes, please,” He muttered. “Stay, Jackie,”

“And we’re done here,” Stiles said, nodding. That made a lot more sense. Suddenly, Lyall’s phone rang.

“Do you want me to get that?” She asked and, off his nod, he picked the phone up. “How do you…” She muttered as she tried to answer it, but she stopped abruptly and watched as, on Lyall’s phone screen, a shadowy beast went sailing past a car window. She paused the video and, with her breath caught in her throat, she zoomed in on a large, monstrous silhouette with glowing red eyes, standing on two legs. The alpha.

~

It was quiet outside the Hale house, almost serene, but the burnt-out husk of what used to be a full and lively home gave the once-beautiful clearing in the woods an eerie feel. Kurt stepped toward the house, two hunters behind him. It had been a long time since he had been back, but he still remembered how the house had looked when he set it on fire, how the Hale family’s screams had sounded as they burned alive, trapped in their own home. He had savored every second before he had to flee. He looked back at Lena and Ulyana.

Lena was experienced, having had a few decades of hunting experience under her belt. She moved with a sense of disquieting stillness that spoke for years of stalking their hearing-sensitive prey through quiet woods. Ulyana was much younger, a relatively new hunter. She had been through training and passed with flying colors, but she had little in the way of actual experience. Her muscles were tight as she looked around, desperate to kill something. Anything.

“She wants us to wait,” Lena told Kurt, who sighed.

“So I’ve been reminded,” He looked at her. “To death,”

“And that means we aren’t allowed to kill her,” Ulyana grumbled, not happy with their orders.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t say hello!” Kurt said, smile bright and threatening. But the threat wasn’t aimed towards either of the hunters with her, and both of them knew it.

~

Derrine hung from an exposed beam in the ceiling, doing chin-ups in a sports bra. She dropped down, quickly getting low to the floor and starting on push-ups. Suddenly, halfway through a push-up, she stopped.

~

The door burst open and Kurt calmly walked into the house he had destroyed, followed by Lena and Ulyana. The area Derrine had been working out in was empty.

“No one home?” Lena asked, peering around.

“Oh, she’s here,” Kurt smirked. “She’s just not feeling very hospitable,”

“Maybe she’s out burying a bone in the backyard,” Ulyana laughed at her own joke and Kurt shot her a sharp look.

“Really? A dog joke?” Ulyana stopped smiling. “You want to provoke her? Try something like…” He paused for a moment before raising his voice. “Too bad your brother bit it before he could find a bitch to have his first litter!” Lena and Ulyana looked at each other, nodding as Kurt continued to yell. “Or maybe he didn’t swing like that, he did howl like a  _ bitch _ when we cut him in half!” With that, Derrine hurtled out of the darkness, snarling. Ulyana raised her gun, but it was knocked out of her hands in seconds. Kurt watched, smirking.

Derrine rose from where she had tackled Ulyana, eyes glowing blue and fangs extended, and she lept for Lena. A moment later, the woman’s unconscious body rolled to a stop at Kurt’s feet. Finally, Derrine went for him, and he stood completely still as if waiting to be bowled over by the pissed-off werewolf. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he had an electric baton in his hands, and he slammed it into Derrine as she lunged at him. Derrine sank to the ground, shuddering uncontrollably.

“Wow, this one grew up in  _ all _ the right places,” Kurt said, walking around her and eying her in a creepily appreciative stare. “I don’t know whether to kill it or  _ lick  _ it,” He waved the baton tauntingly in front of Derrine’s face as she seethed at his playful smile.

~

“It’s me. Again,” Stiles said into her phone, annoyed and slightly panicked. She sighed. “Look, I found something, alright? I don’t know what to do and if you don’t turn your phone back on I’m gonna kill you. I’m too pissed off to come up with a witty description of exactly  _ how  _ I’m gonna kill you, but I’m just- I’m just  _ gonna kill you _ ,” She gave a small scream of frustration. “I’m gonna- Ugh! Goodbye!” She hung up so hard she was surprised she didn’t shatter her phone screen. A knock made her jump and she looked over as her bedroom door clicked open.

“Please tell me I’m going to hear good news at this parent-teacher thing tonight,” Sheriff Stilinski begged of her daghter, standing in the doorway.

“Depends on how you define ‘good news’,” Stiles told her hesitantly.

“I define it as you getting straight A’s with no behavioral issues,”

“You might wanna re-think that definition,”

“Enough said,” The sheriff sighed. She turned to leave, but Stiles stopped her.

“Mom?” The sheriff turned. “Did you guys find out what attacked Jackie and Lyall last night?”

“You know I can’t talk about that,” Sheriff Stilinski reminded her daughter.

“But everyone’s thinking mountain lion, right?” Stiles confirmed.

“It’s the best we’ve got at the moment,” Her mother told her. “We’re setting traps, talking to Animal Control. You don’t have to worry,”

“That’s not-” Stiles stopped herself mid-sentence. “Forget it,”

“You sure?” Stiles nodded, and Sheriff Stilinski let the door close behind her as she left. Stiles reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out Lyall’s phone, staring at the image of the alpha on the screen.

“Come on, Skylar,” The Polish girl muttered. “Where the hell  _ are  _ you?”

~

Skylar helped Arthur across the rock near a waterfall to a vantage point. As he stepped onto one, he almost slipped, but she caught him. Then, as she turned to step on another rock, she slipped as well, Arthur catching her. When Skylar turned, she noticed him laughing, and she looked down to find that she was ankles-deep in the water. As he smiled down at her, she pulled him forward so that he was standing in the water as well. Then she kissed him.

~

Derrine crawled across the bruned floor of her family’s former home, trying to get her muscles back under control, but Kurt jabbed her with the baton again and she lay there, twitching.

“Nine hundred thousand volts. You never were good with electricity, were you? Or fire,” He added, glancing around at the house. He then turned his attention back to Derrine. “So I’m going to let you in on a little secret and maybe we can help each other out,” Kurt looked her in the eye. “Yes, your brother was severed into pieces and used as bait to try to catch you. Unpleasant and, quite frankly, a little too  _ Texas Chainsaw Massacre _ for my tastes, but quite true. Now here’s the part that might kick you in the ass...  _ We didn’t kill him _ ,” Derrine scoffed. “You think I’m lying?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” The werewolf muttered bitterly.

“Well, sweetheart, why don’t you listen to my heart and tell me if I am?” Kurt told her, feigning offense. “We. Didn’t. Kill. Your. Brother,” Derrine looked at him with wide eyes. “Do you hear that? There's no blips or upticks... just the steady beat of the cold, hard truth. Found bite marks on your brother’s body, Derrine. What do you think did that? A mountain lion? We aren't we helping each other out? You might as well admit what you've been guessing all along, which is... the alpha killed your brother. And all you have to do is tell us who she is, and we'll take care of it for you! Problem solved, everybody goes home happy,” Kurt took in the look on Derrine’s face

and came to a sudden realization. He stood from where he was crouched over her. “Unless… you don’t know who she is either,” He sighed. “Wow. Guess who just became totally useless?”

Kurt turned away from the werewolf dramatically, pulling a gun from his waistband. Suddenly, he whirled back around and shot at Derrine, but she was already gone. He continued to fire into the shadows as Derrine burst out of the house, gasping and grabbing at her chest - she’d been shot.

~

Stiles held up Lyall’s phone, struggling with a decision. She stared at the messge on the screen:  _ Are you sure you want to delete? _ Her thumb hovered over the confirmation button, but she hesitated and set the phone down. She picked iyt back up almost immediately and finally tapped the button, deleting the footage.

~

“Skylar, it’s me again,” Deaaton said into her phone as she walked into the examination room. “Just want to make sure everything’s okay. You were supposed to be here an hour ago. Maybe you forgot. Whatever it is, just give me a call to let me know you’re all right,” She hung up and tilted her head, an odd expression gracing her features. She spoke without turning around “Sheriff Stilinski,”

“How’d you know it was me?” The sheriff asked, stepping into the room.

“Reflection,” The veterinarian smiled, nodding toward the mirror hanging on the wall with an unnerving smile.

“I hate to bother you again,” Sheriff Stilinski sighed. “But I’m having a bitch of a time getting a consensus on what we’re dealing with,”

“I’m flattered you’re asking for my help,” Deaton told her nervously. “But like I said before: I’m no expert,”

“But you were pretty certain the other day about our attacker being a mountain lion,”

“That’s right,” She agreed hesitantly.

“Let me show you something,” The sheriff pulled out a folder and quickly opened it up. “We got a little lucky here. The video store didn’t have any cameras but there was a security camera watching another parking lot that happened to pick up a few frames. Take a look at our mountain lion,” Stilinski placed a picture down o the examining table. A dark, blurry, for legged figure was shown bounding towards Lyall’s car. “And here’s another,” This picture showed the figure charging up.

“Interesting,” Deaton murmered and Stilinski shook her head.

“Actually, uh,  _ this _ is the interesting one,” A final picture was handed to Deaton, who stared at it, eyes wide.

“I see what you mean,” Deaton said, pursing her lips. She brought the image closer to her face, examining the dark figure that, in this picture, was running on two legs instead of four.

“I’ve never seen a mountain lion do  _ that _ ,” The sheriff pointed out.

“I haven’t either,” The veterinarian muttered still examining the image.

“My first instinct was bear,” Stilinski confided in the vet. “But bears don’t run on two legs,”

“No,” Deaton agreed. “They drop down to four,” Suddenly, a dog bayed from the back room. “Look, like I said, you’d need an expert for this. Deaton looked back, demeanor changing very quickly. She was nervous again, maybe even more so than before, and she couldn’t look Stilinski in the eye. “I’ve got a sick doberman to look after,”

“No other ideas?”

“I’m sorry,” The dog continued to howl. “Really, I wish I could help you. I’ve got a sick-”

“Dog,” Stilinski finished for her. “I hear them. And thanks. For humoring me again,” She close the folder.

~

Skylar and Arthur climbed into Arthur’s car, cranking up the heat and warming their hands in front of the vents.

“So, to be totally honest,” Arthur looked at Skylar. “This was kinda the perfect birthday,”

“Good,” Skylar smiled at him. “I’d know if you were lying anyway,”

“Oh yeah,” He challenged, amused. “How?”

“You have a tell,” She told him. “You touch your eyebrow. Right here,” She reached over, touching his eyebrow lightly with her thumb. He caught her hand, making her rest it on his cheek.

“Let’s see if you can figure out if I’m lying right now,” Arthur suggested, smiling at her. “I wish my parents weren’t coming home from the teacher conferences so I could spend the rest of the day with you,”

“The rest of the day?” Skylar repeated.

“The rest of the night,” He leaned toward her.

“With me?” He nodded and her heart was pounding as they leaned closer to each other, but she suddenly realized…

“Parent-teacher conferences!” Skylar burst out with a panicked gasp. “I’m supposed to be there. I’m below C on, like, everything!”

“But they’re going on now,” Arthur pointed out, concerned. “ _ Right _ now,”

~

“Jackie is a highly motivated student,” Harris told the girl’s parents, who sat across from her at her desk. “In fact, I’d describe her as ‘unusually driven’,”

“We were hoping she’d ease up on herself a little,” Mrs. Whittemore told her. “She’s always been hard on herself. It’s something we assumed was an effect of being adopted,”

“I think I understand,” Harris said. “She’s never met her biological parents?”

“That’s right,” Mrs. Whittemore nodded. “It’s the need to please. The over-achieving. The desire to make someone proud. Someone she’s never even met,”

“Well, simply as an outside perspective, something certainly seems to have re-calibrated her desire for achievement several notches higher. Not to be too blunt about it, but she seems almost... obsessed,”

~

The headlights of Jackie’s porsche illuminated a small patch of trees where a small hoop hung from a branch. A beer bottle slipped from Jackie’s hand onto the grass and she scooped up a ball with her lacross stick, clutched tight in her other hand. She lobbed the ball at the hoop and missed. She scooped up another ball and fired. Another miss. Balls came one after another, some scraping past the edge of the hoop, but none went in. The beer bottle went flying through the air, smashing into a tree. Gasping through clenched teeth, Jackie sank to her knees. She sat there on the grass, glaring at her failures with tears running down her face.

~

‘So, let me just tell you there’s plenty to say about Lyall,” Mr. Ramsey told the boy’s parents, and they sighed in unison.

“Did I not predict this?” Mrs. Martin asked her soon-to-be-ex-husband.

“Oh, here we go!” Nathan Martin rolled his eyes at her. “Total nuclear meltdown, as usual,”

“What is it? His grades? Concentration issues? Erratic behavior?” Mrs. Martin asked Mr. Ramsey.

“Alright, I’m not the one who told him he had to choose who he wants to live with,” Nathan glared at her. “As if that’s not going to warp a sixteen year-old boy!”

“Just tell us what she problem is,” Mrs. Martin ignored Nathan.

“I wasn't aware that there was a problem,” Mr. Ramsey said. “Academically, Lyall's one of the finest students I've ever had. Her AP scores push his GPA above a 5.0. I'd actually like to have his IQ tested. And socially, he displays outstanding leadership qualities. I mean, he's a real leader. He could go into politics someday!”

~

Lyall sat in front of a mirror, staring blankly at his own face. He picked up his hair gel and styled his hair, years of practice making this a fairly quick process He then picke up his foundation, evening out his imperfections before looking in the mirror and lastering a smile on his face. His mask was back on.

~

Stilinski waited as Coach rifled through papers, seemingly unable to find the one she needs. She looked up from the folder on her desk to Stilinski, who satin an office chair on the other side of her desk.

“Who’s your son?” She asked.

“Daughter,” Stilinski sighed.

“Who’s your daughter?” Coach corrected herself.

“Stiles,”

“Stiles, right,” Coach turned back to her papers before looking up again, frowning. “I thought Stiles was her last name,”

“No, her last name is  _ Stilinski _ ,” The sheriff looked at her daughter’s lacross coach, an odd expression on her face.

“You named your kid  _ Stiles Stilinski? _ ”

“No,” Stilinski told her impatiently. “That’s just what she likes to be called,”

“Well, I’d like to be called Cupcake,” Coach muttered. She then looked at Stilinski again, still frowning. “What’s her real name?” The woman asked curiously. Stilinski tapped her pointer finger on one of the papers on Coach’s deask, and the woman picked it up, frowning at Stiles’ full name emblazonded across the top. “Wow, that is a form of child abuse! That’s-” She squinted at the paper. “I don’t even know how to  _ pronounce _ that!”

“It was her father’s mother’s name,” Stilinski sighed.

“You must  _ really _ love your husband,” Coach observed, chuckling slightly.

“Yeah, I did,” Stilinski told her grimly and Coach’s face went blank.

“Well, this just became incredibly awkward,” Coach observed after a moment of silence for that crash-and-burn.

“Hey, what do you say we get to the conference part of this conference, Cupcake?”

“Absolutely,” Coach snapped back into focus, looking down at the papers in her hand. “So, Stiles. Great kid. Zero ability to focus. Super smart. Never takes advantage of her talents,”

“What do you mean?” Stilinski asked, frowning.

“For the final question on his midterm he detailed the history of male circumcision,” The sheriff shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

“Well, that does have historical significance, right?” She pointed out cautiously. There was a beat of silence.

“I teach economics,” Coach told her.

“Crap,” Stilinski sighed.

~

Stiles sat on her bedroom floor, folders and files spread out in front of her. She read through a report on the Hale House Fire, noting smaller details -  _ electrical malfunction, eleven deceased, arson? _

She sorted papers, pulling certain ones out and putting others back. She needed the truth. She opened up another folder, pulling out the pages, and began to read once more.

~

Harris sat, waiting for Melvin, who was muttering dangerously into his phone.

“Where the hell are you?” He asked through his teeth after getting his daughter’s voicemail for what seemed like the hundredth time. “ Get to the school. Now,” he hung up with an embarassed smile.

“How about we get started?” Harris asked awkwardly. “Lately, Skylar’s mind is somewhere else… As is her body,” She told him wryly. “Personally, I think it may have something to do with her home situation,”

“Well,  _ personally _ , I’m not sure what you mean by home situation,” Melvin told her tensely.

“Specifically, the lack of an authority figure,”

“ _ I’m  _ the authority figure,” He told her, scowling.

“Sorry, allow me to clarify,” Harris cleared her throat. “I mean the lack of a female authority figure,”

“Oh. Well,  _ trust me _ , we're much better off without her in the picture,” Melvin said pointedly, remembering his ex-wife.

“Does Skylar feel the same way?”

“Yes,” Melvin nodded. “I think so,”

“But she's going through some difficult changes. She just needs a little extra attention, a guiding hand through this crucial stage of her development,” Melvin didn’t think Skylar needed her abusive, alcoholic mother during  _ any  _ stage of her development.

~

Arthur drove, noticing that Skylar was finding it difficult to sit still. She kept looking at the clock. Looking at the speedometer. Tapping her foot.The lights of passing cars flashed over Skylar’s face, one after another. In one quick moment, however, her eyes flashed back, becoming reflective as she turned her head up.

~

Arthur pulled into the school parking lot and he and Skylar watched the crowd of parents exiting the building. He turned to look at her.

“I doubt it’ll be as bad as you think,” In contradiction to his words, Melvin slammed the schol door open, fuming. “Your dad?” Skylar nodded, slinking down in the passenger seat.

“ _ Skylar you need to call me. Right. Now _ ,” Melvin said angrily to his daughter’s voicemail. 

“I’m dead,” She groaned.

~

“Arthur, answering your cell phone would make discussing the terms of your grounding far easier,” Chris angrily said into her phone. “I’d call me back before your punishment reaches biblical proportions,” She hung up, turning to her husband.

“Kurt hasn’t heard from him either,” Victor told her.

“She doesn’t do this,” Chris muttered as Melvin approached them.

“Excuse me,” They turned to him “Are you Arthurs parents? I’m Skylar’s dad. And I hate to say this, but she’s not answering her phone either,”

“You’re her father?” Chris asked.

“Funy how you say that like it’s an accusation,” Melvin responded defensively.

“I wouldn’t claim it as a source of pride since she basically kidnapped my son today,”

“And how do we know skipping school wasn’t  _ your son’s _ idea?”

My son-” Chris cut herelf off as the parents noticed their kids getting out of Arthur’s car across the parking lot. “Is right there,”

“Where have you been?” Melvin demanded as he reached his daughter. 

“Nowhere, dad,” Skylar sighed.

“Nowhere as in  _ not in school? _ ” 

“Um… kinda,” She agreed sheepishly.

“It’s not her fault,” Arthur cut in, trying to explain. “It’s my birthday, and we were-”

“Arthur!” Chris yelled. “In the car!” She and Victor come through the crowd, Chris leveling a glare at Skylar, but suddenly, pandemonium broke loose.

A scream ripped through the air and Argent whipped around, scanning the crowd and trying to pinpoint the culprit. Skylar looked up in wide-eyed fear as something large and fast darted between the cars. Horns honked as cars tried to avoid the shape. Skylar’s heightened senses kicked in and she focused in on the sound of padded paws on concrete.

“What is that?” Arthur asked, slightly panicked. Behind him, a car slammed on its brakes a little too late.

“Arthur!” Skylar screamed, rushing forward. She grabbed her boyfriend and yanked him out of the way like he weighed nothing, and he staggered onto the concrete, out of the path of the skiddding car. Skylar grabbed his hand and pulled him away, running through the panicked crowds.

The shape darted past parents, teachers, and administrators, who all raced in different directions, adding to the chaos in the parking lot. Sheriff Stilinski un-clipped her gun from its holster as a panicked parent jerked out of a spot and slammed their SUV right into her. She went down and the parent in the SUV jumped out to help. Thrown by the chaos, Melvin searched for Skylar.

“Skylar!” Melvin called out worriedly, and she turned around searching for her father.

“Dad?” She called back. A teacher bumped into Melvin, causing him to drop his phone. He crouched down as he watched it slide under a car. He reached under the car for it, but saw a loping, animal-like figure on the other side. Terrified, he leaned against the car until it passed.

Chris caught a glimpse of a four-legged creature, moving in a blur, and she reacting in quick and easy strides to her car. She quickly unlocked the passenger side, reaching into the glove compartment and pulling out a gun. On the other side of the lot, cornered parents screamed until a gunshot rang out.

Chris lowered her gun, slowly moving forward. Arthur watched his mother. While everyone else in the parking lot seemed to be a terrified mess, his mother seemed perfectly and utterly calm. Like she was used to this. A breathless Skylar slid out from behind a car and found herself at Chris’ side. Both approached the dying creature cautiously, noting that it is decidedly not the alpha werewolf.

It’s a mountain lion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always thought that it would have made sense for Jackson to have been bitten during that scene, even though he didn't know about werewolves. So, Jackie did. She didn't tell anyone about having been bitten, and because of the whole kanima thing, the whole turning process will be delayed.
> 
> Those two hunters with Kate actually had names! I found out reading the script that their names were Leveque and Ulrich, so that was interesting.
> 
> Okay, I started getting a bit annoyed at Skylar/Scott having fun with Arthur/Allison in the middle of the woods, cut off from the outside world, while Stiles was stressing about the alpha attacking Jackie/Jackson and Lyall/Lydia and Derrine/Derek was being tortured by hunters. I mean, I get that she/he's a stupid teenager but damn does she/he need to get her/his priorities in order.
> 
> And, by the way, was I the only one who was reminded of how much of a total dick Harris was? Because writing this chapter, I realized that I had kinda let that go after he died, but this episode just slapped me in the face with how much I hated him.
> 
> in other news, I am not good at writing action.


	6. Heart Moniter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skylar begs Derrine to teach her to control her transformations so that she doesn't accidentally hurt her boyfriend, Arthur. But should Skylar trust Derrine?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for clarification:
> 
> Stiles and Derek's dynamic changes a lot over the course of the show as they get to know each other, and so they probably wouldn't get together in the first couple seasons. Because of this, it will probably be season 3 before Stiles and Derrine get it together. Until then, there will just be a lot of UST and Stiles getting over her crush on Lyall.
> 
> Scott and Isaac are easier to write because of their easy dynamic, but Isaac wasn't introduced until season 2 and the two of them didn't really bond until season 3. Because of this, Skylar and Isa will get together in season 3. There will likely be many hints at their future relationship in season 2, although any attraction at that point will probably be purely physical.

Skylar dragged several plastic bags into a dimly lit parking garage, walking the rows. After a moment, she stopped, realizing that she had no idea where she had parked. She glanced around, confused.

“Crap,” She muttered, hurrying forward, she looked from car to car. She came to a halt once again, still lost. She started the other way and stopped again, pulling out her dad’s car keys. She pressed the car alarm and listened for the beep. A jug of milk rolled out of one of the bags she had placed on the ground and rolled under a car. “Dammit,” She reached under the car, searching for her runaway milk, but it came rolling back, spilling over the ground through the puncture marks in it. 

Trembling, Skylar raised from her crouched position. She turned and ran for it. As her feet pounded the pavement, she shot a terrified glance behind her and saw a dark shape hurtle out from behind the car on all fours, coming right for her. She tore around the next corner and hurtled into the shadows between columns. She held very still, listening. When she peered out, she saw nothing but parked cars. The garage was silent aside from her pounding heart.

Closing her eyes, Skylar tried to control her breathing, but her heart refused to settle. Then, she heard a low, animalistic growl and her breathing stopped, but her heart didn’t. As the growling came closer, she darted out of the shadows. Taking another corner, she suddenly had an idea. She ran and jumped, landing on a car and setting off the alarm. She jumped from that car to another, setting another alarm off. As she continued setting off the alarms, the garage was filled with beeping and wailing that drowned out the sound of her pounding heart. Then, as she crouched down between cars, her phone rang.

“No, no, no,” She whispered, pulling it out of her pocket frantically. “Stop it,” Something grabbed her and yanked her up into the air, slamming her down on the pavement.

“You’re dead,” Derrine told her, scowling down at her in disappointment.

~

“What the hell was that?” Skylar demanded furiously, following Derrine through the parking garage.

“I said I was going to teach you,” Derrine shrugged. “I didn’t say when,”

“You scared the crap out of me!” Derrine turned, smelling the air.

“Not yet,” She disagreed wryly.

“Okay, but I was fast, right?” Skylar challenged defensively.

“Not fast enough,” Derrine was far from impressed.

“But the car alarms,” Skylar scoffed. “That was smart, wasn’t it?”

“Until your phone rang,”

“Yeah, but that was - I mean -” She stammered, still walking behind the older werewolf. “Would you just stop? Please?” Derrine paused. “What happened the other night... Stiles’s mom getting hurt. It was my fault. I should have been there to do something. I need you to teach me how to control this,”

“Look, I am what I am because of birth. You were bitten,” Derrine sighed. “Teaching someone who was bitten takes time. I’m not even sure I _can_ teach you,”

“What do I have to do?” Skylar asked her desperately.

“Get rid of distractions,” Derrine grabbed Skylar, pulling the girl’s phone out of her pocket. “See this?” The older werewolf turned the phone to display the words across the screen - _Missed Call: Arthur_. “This is why I caught you. You want me to teach you? Get rid of him,”

“What, just because of his family?” Skylar scoffed and Derrine threw her phone. “Wait, wait!” The Latina flinched as she heard the crunch of it hitting the cement. She turned a furious glare on the older werewolf.

“Getting angry?” Derrine looked at her, unfazed. “That’s your first lesson. You want to learn how to control this? How to shift? You do it through anger. By tapping into a primal, animal rage. You can’t do that with him around,”

“I can get angry!” Skylar protested.

“Not angry enough,” Derrine claimed, sighing. “This is the only way I can teach you. Can you stay away from him at least until after the full moon?”

“If that’s what it takes,” The teen nodded.

“You wanna live? You wanna protect your friends? Yes or no?”

“Yes,” Skylar told her firmly. “If you can teach me, I can stay away from him,”

~

Skylar and Arthur fell onto his bed, kissing and touching each other with every imaginable ounce of teenage desire. As he put his lips to her neck, her hands reached under his shirt, fingers tracing up his abs. 

“Take it off,” He whispered to her, and she looked at him.

“You’re okay with that?” She asked hesitantly, wanting to make sure she had explicit consent before letting it go any further.

“Are _you_ okay with that?” Arthur asked her playfully, amused.

“You’re asking me if I’m okay with taking your clothes off?” Skylar raised an eyebrow.

“Stupid question?”

“Like, record-breaking stupid,”

“Well,” He started flirtatiously. “You first,” 

Arthur skimmed his fingers under her shirt and began lifting it. Almost hyperventilating with anticipation, Skylar helped him pull it over her head. He slid his hands up her sides from her hips up to her bra, playing with the straps before tugging her closer for a kiss. Then, he slipped her hands to the edge of his shirt. As she tried to pull it up over his head, her claws made an appearance, slicing through the soft fabric. She stared at them in horror before pulling her hand out and yanking Arthur’s shirt off in the process. But her fingers were back to normal. Pressing their lips back together, Arthur slid his hands up to the clasp of her bra and -

A knock sounded at his door.

“Just a second!” Arthur darted off his bed in a panic. Moving quickly, he pulled Skylar up, tossing her shirt at her. He motioned for her to get in his closet and swiftly shut the door on her.

“Arthur?” Kurt called from outside Arthur’s room.

“Coming,” With Skylar now in the closet, Arthur unlocked the door for his uncle.

“What’s up?” The blond hunter asked his nephew, entering the room.

“Um, nothing,” He lied, sitting down at his computer. “Just doing homework, sending emails,”

“Emailing the girlfriend?” Kurt asked wryly.

“No. I’m emailing PETA about how my wingnut mother gunned down an innocent mountain lion in the school parking lot,” Inside the closet, Skylar smiled.

“And that wouldn’t have anything to do with being grounded and not allowed to see Skylar?” Kurt looked at the teenager knowingly and Arthur shook his head. “That much of an animal lover, huh?” Arthur sighed.

“I’m not going to be the whining teenager who tells his mother ‘I hate you and I wish you were dead’,” Arthur claimed, halting his typing.

“But…” Kurt interjected.

“ _But_ …” Arthur sighed again. “I hate her and I wish she were dead,”

“Good. Starting to sound like a normal, angry teenager again,” His uncle laughed. “What are you working on? Maybe I can help,”

“A history project,” Arthur answered. “And I just want to be left alone actually,” In the closet, Skylar nodded in agreement.

“What kind of project?” Kurt asked eagerly. Once again, Arthur sighed.

“I have to come up with a report that has some relevance to my family history,”

“ _Specific_ to your family?” Arthur nodded in response, still just wanting his uncle to leave so that he and Skylar could get back to what they had been doing. “Type this in: La Bête du Gévaudan,”

“The Beast of Gévaudan?” Arthur turned to Kurt, who nodded. “What is this?”

“An old French legend that, believe it or not, has something to do with _your_ family,” Peering through the slats of the closet, Skylar caught sight of an image on the screen. A large, four-legged creature with a long snout and absurdly sharp teeth. Kurt leaned over Arthur’s shoulder, both of their eyes pinned to the screen. 

“‘In 1766,’” Arthur read aloud. “‘In a province of Lozere, La Bête killed over a hundred people…”

“Almost entirely women and children,” Kurt added on, nodding once more.

“Is this for real?” Arthur looked at him.

“Very real,” Kurt answered. “Mysterious animal attacks. Just like a certain town called Beacon Hills,”

“What was it?” The curious teenager inquired. “The animal?”

“No one knows. But it definitely wasn’t a mountain lion,” Kurt smirked as he made eye contact with his nephew. “What does it look like to you?”

“It looks like…” Arthur looked closer as Skylar, still in the closet, held her breath, knowing what the answer would be. “A wolf,”

~

Skylar quietly slipped over the side of the balcony and landed silently on the ground below. Arthur gave a quick wave from above, smiling down at her. She responded with a smile of her own, although it was half-hearted at best. On the sidewalk, she pulled out her father’s car keys from her jacket pocket but paused as she heard something from the shadows surrounding her. She turned and saw something move in the darkness of the trees.

“Derrine?” Skylar called out. She heard quick movement, leaves rustling from unseen motion. “Okay, I know I said I would stay away, but you broke my phone and I had to at least tell him I wasn’t going to be answering…” She trailed off as no response came, wary. But the whole “mysterious silence from moving shadows” thing wasn’t exactly unusual for Derrine. Still, she remained very still. “Derrine?” Her eyes finally focused on a dark figure in the blackness of the night, just in time to watch the large shape turn to her with glowing red eyes.

Skylar took a terrified step back, then turned, then _ran for her life_. As she ran, she continued to hear the telltale signs of something huge and powerful right on her heels coming from behind her. She ran, gasping for breath even with her enhanced werewolf stamina and speed, and raced for her father’s car. She jumped into the vehicle and slammed the door shut behind her, pounding her palm down on the lock and jamming the keys into the ignition. Suddenly, she paused, looking up to meet glowing red eyes in the rearview mirror. The dark shape of the alpha moved slowly and deliberately around the car while Skylar sat there, hand still on the ignition.

“What do you want?” She whispered. The monster came up toward the driver’s side window, its hot breath steaming up the glass before Skylar could get a good look at it. “What do you want from me?” Something pressed against the steamed window and Skylar flinched back from the clawed fingertip. It begins to move, drawing something in the moisture. Skylar watched, startled, as the hand pulled back into darkness and the alpha disappeared.

Drawn on the steamed glass was a perfect spiral.

~

Skylar hurried into her room, slamming the door shut and locking it. She then went to each window, locking them as well and pulling the shades. Breathing hard, she turned around and screamed. Derrine stood right in front of her. 

“You have _got_ to stop doing that!” Skylar gasped, glaring at the older werewolf.

“What happened?” Derrine demanded. “Did she talk to you?”

“Yeah, we had a nice conversation about the weather,” Skylar responded with sarcasm, taking a page from her best friend’s book. Derrine stared at her. Unmoving. Unblinking. Sufficiently freaked out, Skylar spoke again. “No, she didn’t talk,”

“Did you get anything off him?” The woman questioned. “An impression?”

“What do you mean?” Skylar frowned.

“Remember your other senses are _heightened_. Communication doesn’t have to be spoken,” Derrine reminded the teenager. “What kind of feeling did you get from her?”

“Anger,” Skylar murmured thoughtfully. “She was angry. But not at me,”

“At who, then?”

“I don’t know, but I could _definitely_ feel it. _Especially_ when she drew the spiral,” Skylar answered.

“Wait, the what?” Derrine asked, alarmed. “What did you just say?”

“He drew a spiral onto my car window. In the condensation,” Skylar looked at Derrine, who had an odd expression on her face. “What? Do you know what it means?”

“I- No,” The older werewolf lied. “No, it’s nothing,” She went to the door, opening it.

“Whoa, wait a second. You can’t do that,” Skylar protested. “You can’t ask me to trust you and then just keep things to yourself!”

“It doesn’t mean anything,”

“You buried your brother under a spiral,” Skylar realized, staring at Derrine. “What does it mean?” Derrine paused. For a brief moment, she considered telling her. But the moment passed and Derrine shook her head.

“You don’t want to know,” Derrine left, and this time, Skylar made no attempt to stop her. Alone once again, Skylar sank onto her bed, slowly falling back onto her sheets. Exhausted, she closed her eyes.

~

“Stay away from Arthur,” Skylar whispered to herself as she walked down the school hallway. “Stay away from Arthur,” She started to turn a corner, but she spotted Arthur coming right toward her. Skylar whirled around, going back the other way. “Must stay away from Arthur. Just stay away from Arthur,” Jackie exited a classroom, heading right for Skylar, who spun around again and went a different direction. “Stay away from Jackie,” She muttered. “Just stay away from Jackie,” Lyall caught up to her.

“Hey, Skylar!” He greeted with his usual mask of perpetual cheer.

“Oh, come on!” Skylar groaned.

~

Skylar slipped inside a classroom with a relieved breath. Glancing around, she saw Stiles. But Stiles looked away as soon as she saw her werewolf best friend.

“Still not talking to me?” Stiles ignored Skylar as she took a seat behind her. “Can you at least tell me if your mom is okay? It was just a bruise, right? Soft tissue damage?” Stiles gave no response. “You know I feel really bad about it?” Still nothing. “Okay, what if I told you that I’m trying to figure this out? And that I went to Derrine for help?”

“ _If_ I was talking to you, I’d tell you that you’re an idiot for trusting her,” Stiles said sternly, not looking at Skylar. “But obviously I’m _not_ talking to you,” The room settled for the beginning of class. Stiles opened her notebook, pen poised for note-taking. Then, unable to stand it, she whipped her head around. “What did she say?”

~

“He wants you to tap into your animal side and get angry?” Stiles asked incredulously as Skylar followed her out of the classroom. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but every time you do that you try to _kill_ someone. That someone usually being _me_ ,”

“That’s what she means when she says she doesn’t know if she can teach me,” Skylar sighed. “I have to be able to control it,”

“How’s he going to teach you to do that?”

“I don’t know,” Skylar sighed again. “I don’t think _she_ knows either,”

“When are you seeing her again?” And maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words, so Stiles glanced around to make sure no one was listening. She didn’t want to be the one to accidentally start rumors about her best friend’s sexuality.

“She doesn’t want me to talk about it,” Skylar answered. “Just act normal and get through the day,” She looked at her best friend. “She’s picking me up from the Animal Clinic after work,”

“Okay,” Stiles nodded. “Then that gives me until the end of the school day,”

“To do what?” The Latina werewolf frowned.

“To teach you myself,”

~

“The what of who?” Lyall asked Arthur as they sat, eating at a lunch table.

“The Beast of Gévaudan. Listen,” Arthur flipped through the pages of one of his books, reading aloud. “‘A quadruped wolf-like monster prowling the Auvergne and South Dordogne areas of France during the years 1764 to 1767. La Bête killed over 100 people, becoming so infamous that the King, Louis XV, sent one of his best hunters to try to kill it.’”

“Boring,” Lyall declared.

“‘Even the Church eventually declared the monster a messenger of Satan.’”

“Still boring,” Lyall sighed.

“‘Cryptozoologists believe it may have been a sub-species of hoofed predator, possibly the Mesonychid-’”

“Slipping-into-a-coma _bored_ ,” Lyall rolled his eyes.

“‘-While others believe it was a powerful sorcerer who could shapeshift into a man-eating monster.’” Arthur ignored Lyall’s protests and continued to read.

“Any of this have anything to do with your family?”

“This,” Arthur nodded before reading the next paragraph. “‘It is believed La Bête was finally trapped and killed by a renowned hunter who claimed his wife and four children were the first to fall prey to the creature. The hunter’s name was Argent.’”

“So, your ancestor killed a big wolf,” Lyall rolled his eyes again, unimpressed. “So what?”

“Not just a big wolf,” Arthur disagreed. “Look at this picture. What’s it look like to you?” Arthur flipped the page in the book, turning it to reveal a drawing to Lyall. The Beast stood enshrouded in mist, a powerful monster peering out of the darkness with red eyes and sharp claws. Bodies of women and children lie at its feet, looks of pure terror frozen onto their dead faces. Lyall stared at the macabre drawing, gazing at it as if hypnotized. “Lyall?” Arthur questioned, concerned. The boy blinked and then looked up at Arthur with his usual expression of disdain.

“It _looks_ like a big wolf,” The ginger answered snidely. He got up, leaving Arthur alone and passing another table where Stiles sat, eating lunch. A large book stood open on the table in front of her. She peers behind it at Skylar trying to eat her lunch.

“I think the book just makes it _more_ obvious,” Stiles pointed out, glancing over her shoulder. “Besides, he’s reading anyway,”

“Did you come up with a plan yet?” Skylar asked, peering up over the edge of the book.

“I think so,” Stiles nodded.

“Does this mean you don’t hate me now?” 

“No,” Stiles denied. “But your crap has infiltrated my life, so now I have to do something about it,” She sighed. “Besides, I’m _definitely_ a better Yoda than _Derrine_ ,”

“Okay, good,” Skylar nodded, still partially hidden behind her Chemistry textbook. “You teach me,”

“Yeah. I’ll be your Yoda,” Stiles insisted.

“Yeah,” The werewolf sighed. “You’ll be my Yoda,”

“Your Yoda, I will be,” Stiles said in an imitation of said Star Wars character. She chuckled. “I said it backward…”

“Yeah, I-I know,”

“All right, you know what?” Stiles gathered her things. “I definitely still hate you. Uh-huh,” The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Skylar got up with Stiles, trying not to be seen, but Arthur spotted her.

“Skylar!” Pretending not to hear, Skylar darted through the doors of the cafeteria, moving quickly for an escape. “Skylar, wait!” Arthur came through the doors just as Skylar slips into a nearby girls’ bathroom. Putting his hand on the door, Arthur glanced around as if to push through despite it being the girls’ bathroom, but then decided against it. Taking a step back he headed off down the hall for class. Her ear to the door, Skylar took a heavy breath when she realized Arthur was gone.

“This is _not_ gonna be easy,” She sighed.

~

Stiles and Skylar walked out to the field with their lacrosse equipment. Standing by the benches, Stiles pulled out a black strap with a digital display at its center.

“Put this on,” She commanded.

“Isn’t this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?” Skylar asked, holding the band.

“Yeah, I borrowed it,”

“ _Stole_ it,” Skylar corrected her best friend pointedly.

“Temporarily misappropriated!” Stiles protested defensively before offering further explanation. “Coach uses it to monitor her heart rate with her phone while he jogs. You’re going to wear it the rest of the day,” She pulled out a cell phone, looking at the screen.

“Isn’t that Coach’s phone?” 

“ _That_ I stole,” Stiles nodded.

“Why?”

“Your heart rate goes up when you go wolf, right? During lacrosse, when you’re with Arthur, when you get angry,” She pointed out. “So maybe learning to control it is tied to learning to control your heart rate,”

“Like the Incredible Hulk?” Skylar asked.

“Kinda like the Incredible Hulk, yeah,” Stiles agreed, shrugging.

“No,” Skylar smiled. “I’m like the Incredible Hulk,”

“Would you shut up and put the strap on?” Stiles fired back, annoyed. She then had Skylar stand with her hands behind her back and used duct tape to bind her wrists together.

“This isn’t exactly how I planned to spend my free period,” Skylar mumbled.

“Alright,” Stiles picked up a lacrosse stick and glanced down at the heart monitor. “You ready?”

“No,” Stiles ignored her.

“Remember,” The Polish girl reminded. “Don’t get angry,” Stiles dropped a handful of lacrosse balls at her feet and picked up her lacrosse stick again.

“I’m starting to think this is a really bad-” Skylar’s sentence cut off when a lacrosse ball nailed her in the leg. “ _Ow_ ,” She complained. With a slight smile, Stiles picked up another ball and tossed it. This one got Skylar in the shoulder. “Okay, that kinda hurt,”

“Quiet,” Stiles demanded. “Remember, you're supposed to be thinking about your heart rate, all right? About staying calm,” She held up the phone, displaying Skylar’s rising heart rate.

“Stay calm. Staying calm. Staying totally calm,” Skylar muttered to herself. “There's no balls flying at my face - SON OF A BITCH!” She screamed as a ball hit her in the knee and staggered, almost falling backward. As she attempted to right herself, Jackie approached the field, hiding under the bleachers and watching Skylar and Stiles closely. Suspiciously.

“You know what?” Stiles observed, twirling her lacrosse stick cheerfully. “I think my aim is actually improving!”

“Huh, I wonder why?” Skylar asked through her teeth, laying the sarcasm on thick.

“Don’t get angry,” Stiles told her mockingly.

“I’m not getting angry!” Another ball flew, whacking Skylar right in the stomach. She gasped for breath, doubling over. Then another shot nailed her in the thigh. “Stop! Just - can we -” But the next ball hit her right in the neck and Skylar stumbled. With her hands taped behind her, she fell to her knees. Behind the bleachers, Jackie came forward, watching with a smile as Skylar was brutally pummeled. Stiles moved to pick up another ball with the lacrosse stick, but she paused at the sound of a growl. Then, a beeping sound caught her attention - the heart rate monitor. She picked it up to see the numbers climbing at an alarming speed.

“Skylar?” Stiles called. She looked from her phone to see Skyler kneeling on the grass, both of her hands digging into the dirt. Skylar ripped the duct tape apart. 

“ _Stay back_ ,” Skylar pleaded with her best friend through her own growls. Jackie watched, still behind the bleachers, unsure what she was seeing. Finally, Skylar looked up, sweat dripping from her forehead.

“You started to change-”

“From anger,” Skylar cut Stiles off. “ But it was more than that. The angrier I got, the stronger I felt,”

“Then it is anger,” Stiles determined. “Which means Derrine was right?”

“I can’t be around Arthur,” Skylar gave a sad sigh.

“Why, because he makes you happy?”

“No,” Skylar slumped down, sitting on the grass. Weighted down by the sacrifice she was going to have to make. “Because he makes me weak,”

~

Skylar and Stiles stood in the locker room, shoving their lacrosse gear into their lockers and discussing their current situation.

“So you stay away from him for a few days,” Stiles said. “You can do that,”

“But is it a few days or forever?” Skylar bemoaned.

“You know, this whole ‘love makes you weak’ thing is a little too Spartan Warrior for me,” Stiles pointed out. “It’s probably just part of the learning process,”

“But you’ve seen Derrine. She’s totally alone!” Skylar argued back. “What if I can’t be around him ever again?”

“Well, if you’re not dead that could be a good thing,” Stiles pointed out, trying to get her best friend to see the bright side.

“I’d _rather_ be dead,” Skylar moaned, a bit melodramatically, Stiles thought. Seriously, Skylar, this wasn’t worth killing yourself over! Wolves were pack animals anyway, it probably wasn’t permanent.

“You’re not going to end up like Derrine, alright?” Stiles reassured. “We’ll figure something out,” Stiles couldn’t help but think about wolf packs. Wolves _were_ pack animals, so it was probably safe to assume that werewolves were too. Derrine had mentioned that her aunt was a werewolf, and Laurance had been, did that mean the rest of her family were, too? Was the Hale family a werewolf pack? And was that why Derrine was alone? Because her pack had been killed? The bell rang, snapping Stiles out of her thoughts. “Come on, let’s go,”

“Something smells in here anyway,” Skylar muttered, and Stiles snorted.

“Here? In the locker room?” The Polish girl remarked sarcastically. “That doesn't make any sense at all,”

“No, it's like something's rotting, or… dying,”

As Skylar followed Stiles out, a pale Jackie stepped from between the lockers, watching them go. There were dark circles under her eyes, her skin was a sickly shade of white, and her lips were pale and cracked. The usually beautiful teenager looked frighteningly sick. Now alone, she approached the mirror, lifting her shirt to look at her side. Pulling her shirt off to get a better look, Jackie peeled the hastily wrapped bandages off to reveal the bite mark. The skin around the wound was yellow, and the bite itself seemed to still be sluggishly bleeding, only the blood had turned a strange black color. Glancing her fingers over the wound, Jackie was overtaken by a wave of sudden, violent nausea. She doubled over, leaning into the sink and vomiting up a black substance looking eerily like the dark blood from her wound. She gasped, straightening up.

Jackie met her own terrified eyes in the mirror.

~

Arthur sat under his locker, books piled beside him, as he read on the hall floor. A few remaining students ambled their way down the hall in between periods. Arthur remained transfixed by his book when one person slowly approaches and stops to look down at him. 

“What are you reading?” Arthur glanced up, startled by Jackie’s sudden appearance.

“Oh, hey,” He greeted her. “Just stuff for a history project,” She dropped her bag and sat next to him, leaning against the lockers. “You have a free period?” He asked awkwardly.

“No, I just…” She sighed. “I just don’t want to sit through chem,”

“Understandable,” Arthur nodded.

“Actually, um, yeah-- I wanted to talk,” Jackie told him anxiously. “I realize that I've been a jerk to you. And especially to Scott. And I wanted to say that I'm sorry,” She looked at Arthur. “I’m serious,”

“Okay, I-I believe you're being serious,” Arthur allowed. “But I'm not so sure I believe you're being _sincere_ ,” Jackie sighed.

“Do you know what it's like to be the best player on the team? To be the star? To have every single person at the game chanting your name?” She inquired, still sitting beside him. “And then... some kid... some kid just comes along, and then everyone starts looking at _her_ instead of you. Do you know what that feels like?”

“Not really, no,”

“Well, it feels like something's been... it feels like something's been _stolen_ from you,” Jackie told him. “And then you start to feel like you'd do _anything_ \- _anything_ in the world - to get it back,”

“Didn’t you ever learn there’s no 'I' in 'team'?” He asked.

“Yeah, but there is a 'me',” He looked at her and she clarified. “That was a joke,” Arthur chuckled weakly. “God, you _totally_ hate me, don’t you?”

“Not at all,” He smiled at her.

“You sure? Because... I'm not a bad person. I mean, yeah, I make stupid mistakes - a lot - but I'm not bad,” Jackie insisted, feeling as though she could burst into tears at any moment. “I really like you. And - and Skylar. I really - I really like you both, and I want you guys to like me. I want to get to know you guys better,” He looked at her, gaze softening as he met her gaze, seeing something broken in it. Jackie looked down at the book in his lap. “So, what are you reading?”

~

  
  


Coach Finstock glared at students as they hurried in for class, dropping a pile of books on her desk. She looked hungover as she dropped a handful of antacids into her mouth and started crushing them up with her teeth.

“Sit down. Sit, sit, sit,” Coach demanded. “Lots to cover. Quicker!”

“Stiles, sit behind me,” Skylar begged as she saw Arthur enter the lab. “Stiles, no, Stiles-” Arthur sat down behind her.

“Hey,” He greeted her. “I haven’t seen you all day!”

“Uh, yeah,” Skylar laughed nervously. “I’ve been, um, super busy,”

“When are you gonna get your phone fixed?” Arthur asked. “I feel like I’m totally disconnected from you,”

“U, soon,” She told him. “Really soon,” She hoped to _God_ that was the truth.

“I changed lab partners, by the way,”

“To who?”

“To _you_ , dummy,” Arthur said, shooting Skylar a fond smile.

“To me? Why?” She asked, surprised. “I mean - are you sure?”

“Yeah!” He beamed. “This way, I have an excuse to bring you home and study,” He looked at her, taking her reaction as disappointment. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not!” Skylar assured him. “I just- I don’t wanna bring your grade down,”

“Well, maybe I can bring your grade up,” He grinned at her again. “Come to my place tonight. Eight-thirty?”

“Tonight?” Skylar couldn’t think of an excuse to say no, and Derrine had said to stay away from Arthur. She was screwed, and not in the good way, unfortunately. 

“Tonight,” He told her assertively. Just then, Coach slammed a book on her desk like a judge’s gavel to get the class’ attention. As they all quieted, she spoke.

“Let’s start with a quick summary of last night’s reading,” Coach looked around the room and sighed. “Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading,” The girl slowly lowered her hand, staring at her book sheepishly. “How about… McCall,”

“What?” Skylar asked, alarmed.

“The reading, McCall,” Coach repeated. 

“ _Last night’s_ reading?” She questioned, panic slowly rising as she realized that she hadn’t read anything for economics the night before.

“No, the reading of the Gettysburg Address,” Coach sassed her student.

“What?”

“That was sarcasm,” Coach told her, deadpan. “Are you familiar with the term ‘sarcasm’, McCall?”

“Very,” Skylar answered, glancing over at Stiles, who smiled back proudly.

“Did you do the reading or not?”

“I think I forgot,”

“Okay, then. Nice work. Because it’s not like you’re averaging a D in this class. You do know I can’t keep you on the team with a D, McCall?” She waited patiently for Skylar to respond. Everyone was staring at her. Someone across the room giggled. At her desk, Stiles heard a beeping noise and looked down to see that Skylar’s heart rate was rising. “How about you summarize the previous night’s reading? No? How about the night before? How about you summarize anything you’ve ever read? In your entire life,” Flustered, Skylar blinked up at her. Stiles watched the heart rate monitor continue to rise.

“I-I, uh,” Skylar stammered, brain on overload.

“Anything at all. A blog? The back of a cereal box? The adults-only warning on your favorite website?” Sweating, Skylar stared blankly, not knowing how to respond. Coach sighed dramatically, turning away from Skylar’s desk. “Thank you, McCall! Thank you for extinguishing any last flicker of hope I have for your generation. You just blew it for everybody. Thanks. Next practice, you can start with suicide runs... unless that's too much reading,”

As the class laughed, Skylar sank into her seat in utter humiliation. Behind her, Arthur slowly moved forward. Across the room, Stiles looked with dismay at the heart rate monitor. Until, suddenly, the numbers start dropping. Strangely fast. She glanced over to see why... Arthur had reached under Skylar’s desk to intertwine his fingers with hers. They sat there linked while Skylar’s heartbeat fell to perfect calm. All from his touch.

~

“It’s him,” Stiles announced as she followed Skylar into the crowded hallway.

“What do you mean?” Skylar looked at her best friend, puzzled.

“It’s Arthur,” Seeing Skylar’s still-confused expression, Stiles explained further. “Remember what you told me about the night of the full moon? You were thinking about _him_. About _protecting_ him,”

“Okay?”

“So remember the first lacrosse game?” Stiles reminded her. “You said you could hear his voice while you were out on the field,”

“Yeah,” Skylar nodded. “I did,”

“That’s what brought you back so you could score. And then in the locker room, you didn’t kill him,” Stiles pointed out. “At least not like you were trying to kill me. He brings you back,”

“But that’s not always true,” Skylar denied. “Because literally every time I’m kissing him or touching him-”

“That’s not the same,” Stiles interrupted. “When you’re doing that you’re just another hormonal teenager thinking about sex,” She looked at Skylar, who had begun to gaze off into space with a slight smile on her face. “See, you’re thinking about sex right now. Aren’t you?” Skylar snapped back to attention. 

“Yeah,” Skylar confirmed sheepishly. “Sorry,”

“It’s fine,” Stiles sighed. “Look, back in the classroom, when he was holding your hand, that was different, okay? I don't think he makes you weak. I-I think he actually gives you control. He's kind of like an anchor,”

“You mean because I love him?”

“Exactly,” Stiles confirmed as Skylar realized what she had just said.

“Did I just say that?”

“You just said that,”

“I love him,”

“That’s great,” Stiles was starting to get annoyed. “Moving on-”

“No, really,” Skylar stopped her best friend. “I’m in love with him,”

“And that's beautiful,” Stiles said, impatient. “Now, before you go off and write a sonnet, can we figure this out, please? Because you obviously can't be around him _all_ the time,”

“Yeah,” Skylar shook herself out of her daze and nodded. “Yeah, sorry. So, what do I do?” She asked her pacing best friend, who stopped, thinking. “You have an idea, don’t you,”

“Yeah…”

“Is this idea going to get me in trouble?”

“Maybe,”

“Is this idea gonna cause me physical pain?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Stiles grabbed Skylar’s arm. “Come on!”

~

Skylar followed Stiles around the school to the edge of the parking lot where several large dumpsters sat, concealing a few seniors. They hung out there laughing and talking and smoking. One senior climbed out of a smoke-filled truck to join the others.

“Over here,” Stiles said to Skylar.

“What are we doing?” The Latina werewolf asked. 

“You’ll see,” Stiles told her. “Stand right here. Do you have your keys?” Skylar pulled out her house keys, nodding. “Perfect. Hold them up. Whatever happens, I want you to think about Arthur. Find his voice like you did at the game? Got it?”

“Okay,” Skylar agreed warily.

“Just keep holding it there,” Stiles walked over to the Senior’s truck and took out her own car keys. Then in a quick few seconds, Stiles dragged her key across the side of the Senior’s truck, digging a hideous scratch into the paint. As Skylar watched in horror, Stiles pocketed her keys and turned back to Skylar. “Dude. What do you think you’re doing to that truck?” The seniors turned to see Skylar standing beside the truck, holding up her keys.

“What the hell?” One of the girls asked loudly. Skylar stepped back as Stiles gave her a devilish grin. The seniors were on her in a nanosecond. Skylar put up her arms trying to protect herself, but they literally start beating the ever-loving crap out of her. Stiles eyed her phone to note the rising heart rate while Skylar crumbled to the pavement under the merciless pummeling. 

“Come on, Sky,” Stiles muttered. “Stay calm,” Suddenly, Skylar heard a voice through the haze of pain.

“ _Hey Dad, it’s me_ ,” Arthur said over the phone. “ _Just calling to let you know I’ll be home late tonight. Studying with a friend. Yes, that friend. We’re lab partners_ ,” Her heart rate finally slowing again, the beating was interrupted by a different voice.

“Stop! Stop right now!” Harris demanded, breaking up the fight. “What do you idiots think you’re doing?” Skylar laid on the ground, blood dripping from her nose. She slowly turned to Stiles who held her phone up. The screen showed a steady and normal heartbeat. It worked.

~

Peyton Hale sat in her wheelchair, pointed toward the window. Bright sunlight warmed one side of her face while her burns laid in shadow. A hand reached out and slowly turned the chair around. Derrine sat down on the bed, pulling her aunt toward her. She tilted her head, trying to match Peyton’s listless gaze.

“Aunt Peyton?” Derrine waved a hand in front of the woman’s eyes, but she didn’t even blink. “I need your help,” Derrine lifted her aunt’s hands and placed them on the arms of the wheelchair. “If you can hear me, I need you to give me a sign. Anything. Blink or raise a finger. Just something to point me in the right direction,” Peyton stared forward, seeming almost to look through Derrine. 

“Someone killed Laurance. Your nephew, Laurance?” Derrine moved closer. “Whoever she is, she’s an alpha now. But one without a pack. Which means she’s not as strong. I can take her, but I have to find her first. Give me a sign if you know anything. Is it one of us? Did someone else survive the fire?” Still no response. No movement of any kind. “If you know anything, just blink. Raise a finger. Anything…” Derrine seemed close to tears. She had to admit, this wasn’t just about the alpha. Would it be too much for her to ask to just have _one_ member of her family?

“ _Say something!_ ” The words thundered out of Derrine as he gripped her aunt’s hands, practically trying to shake a response out of her as she tried to blink the moisture in her eyes away. 

“Let her go,” Derrine whipped her head around to see her aunt’s nurse, James, standing in the doorway. “You think after six years of this, yelling at her is going to get a response?”

“You have a better method?”

“Patience,” James answered. “She’ll respond if you give her the time,”

“I don’t _have_ any more time,” Derrine muttered, turning to leave. As James turned to watch her go, neither of them looked back to notice Peyton slowly and shakily raising an index finger off the chair.

~

Derrine quickly headed to her Camaro in the parking lot of the hospital. Unlocking it, she reached for the door before noticing a piece of paper slipped under the windshield wiper. She pulled it out, slowly unfolding it, then reading with interest. She looked up, turning back to the hospital as if trying to find someone watching her. Then, crumpling the paper in her hand, she moved quickly, faster than before. A second later, her car roared out of the lot and into the street.

~

Skylar and Stiles sat in the otherwise empty classroom while Harris read the paper. Pulling a wad of tissues away from her nose, Skylar turned to Harris.

“Ma’am, I know it’s detention and all, but I’m supposed to be at work. And I really don’t wanna get fired,” Harris ignored her. Sighing, Skylar turned to Stiles. “You knew I would heal,” She whispered to her best friend.

“Yep,”

“You did that to help me learn,”

“Yep,”

“But also partially to punish me,” Skylar pointed out. “For not being there when your mom got hurt,”

“Yep,” Stiles still wasn’t looking at her. “That one was obvious,”

“You’re my best friend,” Skylar said. “I don’t want you to be angry at me,” Finally, Stiles turned to her.

“I’m not angry anymore,” The Polish girl sighed. “Look, you have something, Skylar. Whether you want it or not. You can do things other people can’t. That means you don’t have a choice anymore. It means you have to do something,” She gave Skylar a half-smile. “‘With great power comes great responsibility’,”

“I know,” The werewolf nodded. “And I will,” Harris eyed them over her newspaper before putting it down.

“Alright, both of you, out of here,” They grabbed their things, rushing to get up.

~

Looking over paperwork, Deaton heard the chimes on the Clinic door ringing.

“Skylar, you’re late again,” She called out without looking up. “I hope this isn’t getting to be a habit,” She finally looked up to see not Skylar, but Derrine entering. “Can I help you?”

“I hope so,” Derrine told her. “I want to know about the animal you found with the spiral in its side,”

“Excuse me?” Deaton asked, feigning confusion. “What animal?”

“Three months ago,” Derrine clarified. “The deer,” She unfolded the piece of paper left on her windshield, hiding her freaked out reaction to the report and photograph of a dead deer with a spiral carved into its side. “You remember this?”

“Ah, yes,” Deaton said with false surprise. “It was just a deer. And I didn’t find it. They called me because they wanted to know if I’d seen anything like it,”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them ‘no’,” Derrine turned her head slightly, something drawing her attention.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” The vet asked, frowning.

“The sound of your heartbeat rising,”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s the sound of you _lying_ ,” Derrine moved like a bolt of lightning, hands grabbing Deaton by the coat and dragging her forward.

~

Deaton blinked her eyes open. There was a bruise and cut now under her eye. She glanced around to find herself bound to a rolling chair. 

“Oh, God,” She moaned as Derrine came out of the shadows. 

“Are you protecting someone?”

“The key to the drug locker is in my pocket,” Deaton told the werewolf anxiously.

“I don’t want drugs,” Derrine told her. “I want to know why you’re lying,”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about-” Derrine reached out, grabbing her by the jacket. She lifted Deaton, the chair still attached to her with her feet dangling below her. Derrine brought her up to view Deaton’s face, the bruise under her eye.

“You’re not healing,” Derrine murmured. “Although, an alpha could control that,”

“What are you doing to me?” Deaton stammered. “What do you want?”

“I want to know who you are or who you’re protecting,” The werewolf growled.

“I swear, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about-”

“Then I guess I’m going to have to make myself very, very clear,” Derrine cut Deaton off. She brought the vet closer as the door clanged open. Skylar looked in, shocked by the display in front of her. Derrine dropped Deaton back to the floor.

“What are you doing?” The teenager asked, appalled.

“Skylar, get out of here!” Deaton called out to her, sounding panicked. Derrine swung her fist down on Deaton’s cheek, knocking the woman out cold.

“Stop!” Skylar yelled, coming closer as Deaton went limp.

“Look, when she's conscious, she can keep herself from healing, but unconscious, she can't,”

“Are you out of your mind?” Skylar yelled exasperatedly. “What are you talking about?”

“You want to know what the spiral means?” Derrine snapped. “It’s our sign for a vendetta. For revenge. It means she won’t stop killing until she’s satisfied,”

“You think _she’s_ the alpha?” The teenage werewolf looked at her unconscious boss.

“We’re about to find out,” Derrine held up her hand, claws out. But as she swiped down, a clawed hand grabbed her by the wrist.

Whipping her head around, Derrine looked at a fully-transformed Skylar. With a vise-like grip on Derrine’s wrist, Skylar opened her mouth wide, baring her fangs and letting loose a vicious snarl. Derrine actually blinked in surprise. Skylar let her go. Then, with an extraordinary display of control, she transformed back. Her claws retracted into her fingers. Her teeth withdrew, changing shape and returning to normal. The golden glow in his eyes dissolved to her normal brown. It took seconds, but it happened with stunning fluidity and grace. As if it was as natural a movement as breathing. Skylar stared defiantly at a speechless Derrine. For once, she was both calm and fearless.

“Hit her again,” Skylar told Derrine in a low voice. “And you’ll _see_ me get angry,” Derrine eyed Skylar with newfound respect. She was learning.

“Do you have a plan?” Derrine sighed.

“Just give me an hour,” Skylar looked over her still unconscious boss, blotting her bloody cheek with a towel. 

“And then what?”

“Meet me at the school. In the parking lot,” Skylar tossed the bloody towel in the trash.

~

“This is a terrible idea,” Stiles informed Skylar as they got out of her Jeep.

“I know,” Skylar agreed.

“And we’re still gonna do it,”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Personally, I’m a big fan of ignoring a problem and hoping it goes away,” Stiles shrugged.

“Just make sure we can get inside,” Skylar told her. Stiles yanked out a set of bolt cutters. A pair of headlights approached as Derrine’s Camaro parked in a nearby space. Derrine killed the engine and stepped out from behind the wheel as Skylar and Stiles approached her.

“Where’s my boss,” Skylar demanded.

“In the back,” Skylar and Stiles peeked inside the Camaro to see Deaton bound, gagged, and blindfolded.

“She looks comfortable,” Stiles remarked sarcastically. Skylar and Stiles started for the school building.

“Where are you going?” Derrine asked.

“You said I’m linked with the alpha,” Skylar reminded the older werewolf. “I’m going to see if you’re right,”

~

Moonlight bled through the horizontal blinds, lighting the room. The door smashed inwards as Skylar and Stiles stumbled in.

“One question,” Stiles looked around nervously. “What are you going to do if the alpha doesn’t show up?”

“I don’t know,”

“Okay,” Stiles looked at Skylar. “What are you going to do if the alpha _does_ show up?”

“I don’t know,”

“Right. Good plan,” Stiles told her sarcastically.

“You told me a wolf howls to signal its position to the rest of the pack. Right?” Skylar reminded Stiles.

“Right. But if you bring her here, does that make you part of her pack?”

“I _hope_ not,” Skylar muttered.

“Yeah, me too,” Skylar pulled the PA microphone over to her mouth. As she pressed the button on the base of the mic, Stiles gave her an encouraging nod. Skylar took a deep breath, cleared her throat, leaned into the microphone…

~

Derrine stood in front of her car, eyes still on Deaton through the windshield. She didn’t move a muscle, poised like a cobra ready to strike. That is until she heard a pathetic howl ringing over the PA system. Derrine slowly turned around in shock. 

“You have got to be kidding me,” She said incredulously, looking at the school with her - now patented - Skylar-is-an-idiot face.

~

Skylar released the button and gazed up at Stiles, who was holding her head in her hands.

“Was that okay?” Skylar asked. “That was a howl. Right?”

“I…” Stiles looked up, slightly pained. “Yeah, technically,”

“What did it sound like to you?” 

“Like a cat being _choked_ to death, Skylar,” Stiles told her bluntly, sighing.

“Well, what do I do? How am I supposed to do this?” Crossing behind the desk, Stiles grabbed Skylar’s shoulders and leaned in close, eye-to-eye, in full trainer mode.

“You’re calling the alpha,” Stiles reminded her. “Be a woman. Be a werewolf. Not a teen wolf. _A werewolf!_ ” Skylar nodded, grabbing the microphone. She took a deep breath once again.

~

A powerful howl echoed across the buildings, bellowing out from the speakers, over the trees, and into the night sky. Derrine turned back, now actually impressed, but clearly not happy.

~

Skylar and Stiles banged through the doors of the school and out into the parking lot.

“I’m gonna _kill_ you both myself,” Derrine growled at them furiously. “Are you trying to attract the entire state to this school?”

“I didn’t know it would be that loud,” Skylar told her sheepishly.

“Yeah, it was _loud_ ,” Stiles said excitedly. “And it was _awesome_ ,”

“Shut up,” Derrine told her, irritated and angry. 

“Don’t be such a Sourwolf,” Stiles mocked, but Skylar was no longer paying attention to either of them. Instead, she was looking at Derrine’s Camaro. The door was open and ripped bindings laid on the pavement. Derrine stepped forward, surprised.

“What did you do with her?” Skylar asked.

“I didn’t do anything,” Derrine suddenly jerked forward. Blood poured from her mouth as she rose into the air, held aloft by a large, dark figure behind her. Screaming, Stiles and Skylar staggered back. Derrine’s body went flying, slamming into the brick wall of the school and dropping down. Tripping over their own feet, Skylar and Stiles ran for it, racing for the school.

They yanked the double doors of the school shut. Holding them closed, the best friends looked up at each other in breathless terror. Approaching from the shadows was a huge, terrifying black shape with glowing red eyes.

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, disclaimer, I'm a girl and I've never had sex with a guy. The furthest I've gone with a guy was some light kissing with my male best friend before he realized he was gay, and the only other relationship I've had is with my girlfriend, so... I have no idea how that shit works. Seriously, I read some other fics beforehand to get a feel for how to write the Skylar/Arthur scene, but I don't really get it. Why would you run your hands up their front? Isn't that a bit of an awkward position when you're kissing someone? I feel like that would be uncomfortable. So anyway, the scene in question may have come off a bit weird.
> 
> And in other news MY MOM IS HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!!! I already have eight siblings, and now I'm gonna have a ninth!!! I get... zero peace and quiet.


	7. Night School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped in the high school at night, Skylar and her friends grow suspicious of each other as they face the threat of attack from a powerful werewolf trying to get in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, to clarify, gender roles and stereotypes are reversed in this AU to preserve the personalities of the characters. And makeup is gender-neutral.

The school doors slammed shut, shaking on their hinges as Skylar and Stiles gripped the handles with everything they had. 

“Lock it!” Skylar yelled. “Lock it!”

“Do I _look_ like I have a key?” Stiles snapped, exasperated.

“Grab something!”

“What?”

“Anything!” While Skylar clutched the handles, Stiles looked out the doors to the bolt cutters leaning against the wall outside. Skylar saw where she was looking. “No,”

“Yes,” Stiles contradicted.

“No, Stiles, don’t-” But she pushed past Skylar, stepping out into the cold air. Holding still, Stiles glanced into the darkness. All she saw was the breath pluming from her lips. Then, she raced to the side of the building where the bolt cutters sat. Grabbing them, he turns back to see Skylar, screaming at her to _run_. Stiles slowly turned her head as something loped out of the darkness.

Stiles charged back in with the bolt cutters. Skylar grabbed the other handle, the two of them fumbling to get both sides of the tool down into the bars, a makeshift lock. When they looked up again, the walkway leading to the doors was empty. A few leaves tumbled across the pavement. They slowly retreated, taking each step faster and faster until they were running.

~

Skylar and Stiles hurtled into a dark classroom and looked around, gasping for breath.

“The desk, the desk,” They slipped around the teacher’s desk and started pushing it toward the door, only to flinch at the loud squeal of metal against the tile. “Stop, stop!” Holding still, they spoke fast. “The door’s not going to keep it out,” Stiles whispered, voice shaking.

“I know,” Skylar sighed.

“It’s your boss,”

“ _What?_ ”

“Deaton. The alpha. Your boss,” Stiles clarified. Her voice was strong, but her shaking hands revealed her concealed fear.

“No,”

“Yes!” She emphasized. “Psycho, murderous werewolf,”

“That _can’t_ be,” Skylar shook her head.

“Oh, come on!” Stiles interjected. “She disappears and that thing shows up ten seconds later to toss Derrine twenty feet through the air. That’s not convenient timing?”

“It’s not her,” Skylar insisted determinedly.

“She _killed_ Derrine!”

“Derrine’s not dead,” Skylar denied. “She can’t be dead,”

“Blood _spurted_ out of her mouth,” Stiles scoffed. “That doesn’t exactly qualify as a minor injury. _She’s_ dead and _we’re_ next,”

“Okay, just…” Skylar sighed. “What do we do?”

“We get to my Jeep,” Stiles answered. “We get out of here. You seriously think about quitting your job. Good?” Skylar nodded. They turned to the windows to view the parking lot. Quietly stepping to the furthest window, they spotted Stiles’ Jeep sitting in the lot about twenty yards away. Skylar put her hands on the window sill. “The windows don’t open. The school’s climate-controlled,”

“Then we break it,” Skylar suggested.

“Which will make a lot of noise,” Stiles pointed out.

“And then we run. Really fast,” They glanced back to the Jeep, which now seemed even further away than before. “ _Really_ fast,” While Stiles started looking for something to break one of the windows, Skylar got closer to the glass. “Stiles, what’s wrong with the hood of your Jeep?”

“What do you mean?” The girl asked. “Nothing’s wrong,” She chuckled humorlessly. “At least, nothing’s wrong with my hood. I can list a whole _bunch_ of other things that are wrong right now,”

“It’s bent,”

“What, like, dented?”

“No, I mean _bent_ ,” Stiles turned her eyes to the window. Oddly, the Jeep’s hood was twisting up toward the windshield like the top of a tin can. 

“What the hell-” An explosion of glass by their heads sent them screaming to the floor. Ducked under the window, they looked past their raised arms to see something skidding across the tile and slamming to a stop on the opposite side of the room amidst the shower of broken glass. 

“That’s my _battery!_ ” Stiles gasped, slowly lowering her arms. Skylar nodded. Both of them gazed at it, stunned. Stiles started to get up but Skylar grabbed her.

“Don’t,” The werewolf whispered.

“We have to move!” Stiles protested, her voice just as quiet as her best friend’s.

“She could be right outside!” Skylar pointed out.

“She _is_ right outside!” Skylar kept her grip on Stiles’ shoulder despite the Polish girl’s protests, holding her down.

“Just let me take a look,” The Latina sighed. Craning her neck to see out the window, Skylar glanced around the dark school lot. It was empty.

“Anything?” Stiles asked, and Skylar shook her head. “Move now?”

“Move now,” Skylar nodded. They got up and quickly headed for the door, scrambling across the tile floor. The classroom door cracked open and Skylar and Stiles slipped into the hall. They glanced down the opposite ends of the corridor, nervously drifting forward. “This way,”

“No, no,” Stiles disagreed, grabbing Skylar’s wrist. “Somewhere without windows,”

“Stiles, every single room in this building has windows,” Skylar pointed out.

“Somewhere with _less_ windows,” Stiles amended and Skylar gasped.

“The locker room!”

~

Skylar and Stiles burst through the door and hurried into the locker room, careful not to let the door slam and draw attention to their location.

“Call your mom,” Skylar told Stiles, who stared at her.

“And tell her what?”

“I don’t know!” Skylar whisper-shouted. “ _Anything!_ There’s a gas leak, a fire, whatever. If that thing sees the parking lot filled with police cars it’ll take off,”

“What if it doesn’t?” Stiles asked. “What if it goes completely _Terminator_ and kills every cop in sight _including_ my mom?”

“They have guns,” Skylar argued.

“And Derrine had to be shot with a wolfsbane-laced bullet to even slow her down. Remember that?” Stiles pointed out.

“Then we have to…” Skylar hesitated, thinking. “We have to find a way out and just… run for it,”

“There’s nothing near the school for half a mile,”

“What about Derrine’s car?”

“That could work,” Stiles nodded. “We go outside, get the keys off her body, and take her car,”

“ _And_ her,” Skylar insisted.

“Fine, whatever,” Stiles sighed. But as she reached for the door, Skylar stopped her. “What?”

“I think I heard something,”

“Like what?” Still gripping Stiles’ arm, Skylar listened, nervous breath rising. Stiles moved to take her hand off the doorknob, but Skylar tightened her grip on her best friend’s arm, a signal to stop. A shadow passed by the mottled glass window of the door mere centimeters from them. Skylar eased off Stiles’ arm, slowly stepping back.

“Hide,” Skylar whispered to Stiles, barely audible. Stiles drew back into the darkness with her. They both glanced around in terrified desperation, suddenly realizing the terrifying truth. There was nowhere to hide. Stiles looked to Skylar with pleading eyes, but Skylar didn’t seem to know what to do either. So Stiles reached for a locker door and climbed right in. “Stiles!” A second later, Skylar slipped into the locker across from Stiles to hide as well.

Inside the locker, Skylar held still, trying to control her breathing, trying to quiet her heartbeat. The locker room door opened and a large, dark figure entered. Skylar watched the shape pass by her. She could see Stiles through her own vent holes, eyes wide and terrified. Stiles put her hand over her mouth trying to cover her breathing while Skylar held utterly still, just her eyes blinking rapidly in the darkness as the locker door yanked open to reveal…

… The janitor. She screamed in surprise, staggering back. Before Skylar could get a word out to explain, Stiles stumbled out of the opposite locker.

“ _Son of a bitch!_ ” Skylar grabbed her, trying to keep the terrified woman on her feet.

“Quiet!” Stiles hissed at her sharply.

“Quiet my ass!” The woman snapped. “What the hell are you trying to do, kill me?” Gasping, the janitor leaned against the locker, looking like she’s on the verge of a heart attack. “Get out, both of you,”

“Will you just _listen_ for half a second, okay-”

“No, _not_ okay,” She interrupted Stiles. “Get the hell out of here, _now_ ,”

“God, just _one second_ to explain-” Stiles tried again, but she was cut off once again as the Janitor grabbed them both and pulled them along with her, out of the locker room.

“Just shut up and go!” Then, hand still on the door, the janitor suddenly whipped back into the locker room, swinging the door shut behind her.

The movement happened so quickly it left Skylar and Stiles staring in utter confusion at the closed door. Until the janitor’s face came slamming back to the door’s window. Skylar and Stiles staggered away in shock as the janitor’s body slammed forward again, rattling the door in its frame. Skylar grabbed at the door, trying to get it open, trying to help the woman, as Stiles pulled her back. Skylar and Stiles finally run for it, both of them screaming and racing down the hall as the locker room door flew off its hinges, bursting into the hallway and falling to the floor. The janitor’s dead body collapsed down onto the door and then, in one swift motion, was dragged back into the darkness of the locker room. 

~

Down the sidewalk from his house, Arthur looked from one end of the street to the next, still waiting for Skylar. His phone rang and he put it to his ear.

“ _Lyall says we’re coming to get you_ ,” Jackie’s voice said over the phone.

“Please, don’t. I’m sure she’s on his way. She’s only…” Arthur pulled his phone away from his ear for a moment to check the time. “... Twenty-six minutes late,”

“ _You hear that?_ ” Lyall scoffed. “ _First it’s ‘she’s only twenty-six minutes late’, a month later it’s ‘she only hits me when she’s drunk’. Slippery slope, Arthur. Slippery slope,_ ”

“ _We’re picking you up_ ,” Jackie repeated.

“No,”

“ _Too late_ ,” She told him as she and Lyall pulled up to the curb in her Porsche. She rolled down the window. Strangely, she looked much better. The sickly paleness had left her skin, leaving behind a healthy glow. “Lyall gets what Lyall wants,” Arthur glanced down the road again. Still no sign of Skylar. “Come on, get in. We can stop by her place and see if she’s there,” Arthur finally gave a reluctant sigh. But the moment he opened the door to get in the back, his phone buzzed.

“Is that her with the best explanation ever of why she’s half-a-freaking-hour late?” Lyall asked.

“Not exactly,” Arthur answered, eying his phone with a curious gaze.

~

Skylar and Stiles raced for the exit at the end of the hall. They reached the fire door handles at the same time, pushing down and shoving forward. The doors opened, but only an inch, clanging against something behind them. Pushing again, they hear the same metallic clang. Something was on the other side, blocking the doors. 

“What the hell?”Stiles asked as Skylar peered out the open inch of the door.

“It’s a dumpster,” She murmured. They retreated a few steps.

“She pushed it in front of the doors-”

“- To trap us in,” Skylar finished Stiles’ thought. Stiles turned, backing into the door, trying to push off from her feet and move the dumpster behind it.

“Come on,” Stiles insisted. “Help me!” The door clanged against the dumpster again and again as she kept trying to muscle it open. 

“Stiles, stop,” Skylar grabbed her best friend’s arm.

“I am _not_ dying here, Sky,” Stiles told her, panicky and terrified. “I am _not_ dying at _school!_ ”

“We’re not gonna die,” Skylar tried to reassure.

“Then what’s she doing?” Stiles forced out. “What does she want?”

“Me,” Stiles looked at her best friend. “Derrine says she’d be stronger with a pack,”

“Oh, great!” Stiles burst out with manic sarcasm. “A psychotic werewolf who’s into teamwork. That’s just _beautiful_ ,”

They retreated from the doors again, looking down the other end of the hall. But their cautious progression came to a halt when Skylar paused. She turned to the wall of windows at the side of the corridor looking out on the courtyard and opposite side of the school. A figure crouched in the darkness on the roof, red eyes gazing directly at them. Skylar and Stiles started moving, running, nearly stumbling over each other as the alpha bounded from one level of the roof to the next, landing and leaping in the same instant that Skylar and Stiles raced ahead. Behind them, glass exploded into the hallway, the alpha crashing back into the school. Skylar grabbed Stiles, pulling her to the adjacent stairwell. They raced into the lower level of the school, running for safety.

~

Jackie’s Porsche swerved into the lot. She got out of the driver’s side, pulling the seat up to let Arthur out. They both glanced at the Jeep parked a few spaces away.

“What are they doing here, anyway?” Jackie asked, baffled.

“I don’t know,” Arthur shrugged. “All I got was this,” He held up his phone, displaying the text across the screen. _Meet me at the school - Skylar_.

“They lock the doors at night, you know,” Lyall pointed out.

“That one looks open,” Arthur pointed to the door lying open. The bolt cutters sat upright against it, carefully placed there to hold it open. Almost as if welcoming Arthur into the school. 

“You don’t need me to state the obvious, right?” Jackie asked after a moment of silence at the sight.

“That it looks like they broke into the school?” Arthur confirmed, amused. “No. Pretty obvious,”

“You want me to come with you?” She asked, frowning.

“No,” He shook his head. “I’ll be fine,”

“Arthur…”

“You look like you’re about to say ‘be careful’,” Arthur teased her.

“That’s because I am,” Jackie said. He smiled at her. “What?”

“That concerned look on you,” He pointed out. “I’ve never seen it before,”

“I _am_ concerned,”

“It’s a good look for you,” From the Porsche, Lyall noticed the moment between them, and he clearly didn’t like it. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back,” He assured her. As he stepped into the dark corridor, the bolt cutters slipped. They fell to the pavement, allowing the door to clatter shut.

~

Skylar and Stiles backed into the basement of the school, slipping around corners. Florescent lights flickered above them with an electric crackling.

“We have to do something,” Stiles determined.

“Like what?” Skylar asked her, incredulous. They had been backed into their high school’s basement by a powerful alpha werewolf that had maybe (probably) killed the only person who could get rid of it. What could they do?

“I don’t know!” Stiles huffed, exasperated. “Kill it! Hurt it! Inflict mental anguish on it! _Something!_ ”

Stiles glanced at the doors with mesh cage windows in them, old and dirty lockers lying open inside. Trying to think fast, her eyes darted around until suddenly, a door slammed open behind them. The two of them pulled back into the darkness. Holding still, they heard a strange clicking on the floor, claws tapping against the tile. Stiles’ eyes moved from the thin corridor to where several old administrative desks laid, stacked against the wall. Skylar caught her look, seeing an idea come to fruition. Stiles slowly - very slowly - pulled out her car keys. She brought them up. They jangled softly, causing both girls to flinch. Skylar glared at Stiles, eyes nearly popping out of her head. Especially when her friend reared back and threw the keys. They landed right in one of the cage rooms, clattering against the wall. Something blurred past, a massive shape in the darkness, soaring in after the keys. Without hesitating, Stiles jumped out of the shadows and slammed the door shut behind it.

“Skylar, the desk!” She yelled to her best friend. With barely a second to comprehend the plan, Skylar rushed to one of the steel desks and rammed it against the closed door. Stiles slipped out of the way as the door jerked forward, hitting the side of the desk. The alpha roared from inside the cage room, slamming into the door. But the desk wedged between it and the opposite wall. Skylar and Stiles turned to each other in a moment of pure triumph. The alpha couldn’t get out. 

They had trapped it.

~

Waiting behind the wheel, Jackie stared at Stiles’ Jeep, studying it in the darkness.

“You see that?” She asked.

  
“See what?” Lyall asked, looking up from his phone as his girlfriend spoke.

“The hood on that piece-of-crap Jeep looks crappier than usual,” She opened her door.

“Where are you going?”

“To take a look,” She told him. “Stay here,”

“I’m not staying in the car!” Lyall protested.

“Just stay in the damn-” Lyall cut off Jackie’s frustrated outburst.

“ _Do not leave me alone in the car_ ,” He told her firmly, remembering the last time she had done so. He had thought she was dead.

“Fine,” Jackie sighed. “Don’t have a meltdown,” She stepped out of her Porsche and towards Stiles’ Jeep, Lyall following close behind her. She ran her fingers over the crumpled hood with him by her side.

“Look at that,” Lyall said, deadtone, not understanding why Jackie was taking such an interest. “It is indeed a piece of crap. Can we get Arthur and leave now?” Ignoring him, she leaned closer, noting the strange grooves in the hood. Like claw marks. She then glanced to the doors of the school and started toward them. “What are you doing? Are we getting Arthur? Jackie?”

~

Stiles and Skylar stood on opposite sides of the desk now wedged between the cage door and the wall. Stiles slowly motioned with her hand for Skylar to climb over, but Skylar looked too scared to move. A breath came from inside the cage room and both girls turned back. They couldn’t see it in the darkness, but the alpha was there, trapped inside. With a far more emphatic look, Stiles twisted her head at Skylar, trying to get her to climb over the desk to her. Finally, Skylar moved, awkwardly sliding over the desk as the alpha’s hand slammed up against the mesh wire window of the door. Stiles and Skylar flinched back. They stared at the hand, clawed fingers like talons fitting through the openings. It slowly pulled back, disappearing again into the shadows. Incredibly, Stiles started toward the cage room.

“What are you doing?” Skylar asked her best friend in a harsh whisper.

“I wanna get a look,” 

“Are you crazy?”

“It’s trapped,” Stiles pointed out. “It can’t get out,” The cage rattled as if in response. “Yeah, that’s right,” She taunted the alpha, more confident now. “We got you,”

“Shut up,” Skylar begged, frustrated.

“I’m not scared of this thing!” Stiles said to her before turning back to the alpha. “I’m not scared of you. Because you’re not going any-” 

Suddenly the alpha lept up, shooting right into the ceiling. The panels burst away, crashing and clattering to the floor. Skylar and Stiles gazed up in horror as the ceiling panels above them shook, bending and popping up under the weight of the creature, who was no longer trapped at all. They turned to watch the panels rumble and shake above as the alpha made her retreat.

~

Stiles and Skylar stood on opposite sides of the desk now wedged between the cage door and the wall. Stiles slowly motioned with her hand for Skylar to climb over, but Skylar looked too scared to move. A breath came from inside the cage room and both girls turned back. They couldn’t see it in the darkness, but the alpha was there, trapped inside. With a far more emphatic look, Stiles twisted her head at Skylar, trying to get her to climb over the desk to her. Finally, Skylar moved, awkwardly sliding over the desk as the alpha’s hand slammed up against the mesh wire window of the door. Stiles and Skylar flinched back. They stared at the hand, clawed fingers like talons fitting through the openings. It slowly pulled back, disappearing again into the shadows. Incredibly, Stiles started toward the cage room.

“What are you doing?” Skylar asked her best friend in a harsh whisper.

“I wanna get a look,” 

“Are you crazy?”

“It’s trapped,” Stiles pointed out. “It can’t get out,” The cage rattled as if in response. “Yeah, that’s right,” She taunted the alpha, more confident now. “We got you,”

“Shut up,” Skylar begged, frustrated.

“I’m not scared of this thing!” Stiles said to her before turning back to the alpha. “I’m not scared of you. Because you’re not going any-” 

Suddenly the alpha lept up, shooting right into the ceiling. The panels burst away, crashing and clattering to the floor. Skylar and Stiles gazed up in horror as the ceiling panels above them shook, bending and popping up under the weight of the creature, who was no longer trapped at all. They turned to watch the panels rumble and shake above as the alpha made her retreat.

~

Arthur peeked into one classroom after another, the sound of his footsteps filling the otherwise silent hallway.

“Skylar?” He called, his voice echoing through the hall. Shadows bounced across the walls as he moved toward a stairwell. “Skylar?” He called again, a bit louder than before.

~

Lyall hurried after Jackie as she strode purposefully through the school hallways.

“Hold on,” He called out, heading for the boy’s bathroom.

“Are you kidding?” Jackie asked. “You have to use the bathroom? Now?

“Yes, now,” Lyall snapped. “You have a problem with my performing a basic biological function?”

“I’m starting to have a problem with _all_ your functions,” She grumbled, annoyed. Ignoring her comment, he pushed through the door. Arms folded, Jackie gazed back to the empty corridor. But her arms fell to her sides when she saw a large silhouetted figure at the end of the corridor. Standing there. Watching her.

“McCall?” She stepped forward, trying to catch any detail of the figure at the end of the hall. But it’s an almost perfect silhouette and still strangely motionless. “Skylar?” Then, almost as an inaudible whisper, she said another name. “Derrine?” The silhouette moved from a standing position down to all fours. Then, almost casually, it loped into the next hallway, disappearing around the corner. Short gasps choked their way between Jackie’s lips as she stared down the long corridor, until the bathroom door slammed open, nearly sending her off her feet.

“Did you find them?” Lyall asked, and Jackie, unable to find her voice, just shook her head.

~

Walking on the tile floor between the school’s two swimming pools, Arthur stopped as his phone began to ring. He pulled it out to answer. Still in the basement, Skylar turned to Stiles.

“Do you hear that?” She asked.

“Hear what?”

“A phone ringing,” Suddenly, Skylar recognized the ringtone. “That’s Arthur’s phone!” She told Stiles, alarmed.

~

Between the walkways of the high school’s swimming pools, Arthur put his phone to his ear.

“Hey, I can’t seem to find them,” He told Jackie, waiting for her response. “Okay, give me a second. I’ll be right there,” He hung up and was about to put his phone away when it rang again, startling him. He gave a curious look at the display and then answered. “Stiles?”

“ _No, it’s me_ ,” Skylar told him. “ _Where are you?_ ”

“At the school, looking for you,” Arthur responded. “Why weren’t you at my place?”

“ _Where are you right now?_ ” She pressed.

“On the first floor,” He was getting more confused the longer this conversation went on.

“ _Where? Where are you exactly?_ ” He started to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. Skylar’s voice was so sharp, so laced with urgency, that it had startled him silent.

“The swim-” He cleared his throat, getting nervous. Something was wrong. “The swimming pools,”

“ _Get to the cafeteria_ ,” She told him. “ _Now_ ,”

“Alright, alright,” He agreed. “I’m coming,”

~

Arthur pushed through a door and into the first-floor lobby to find Skylar and Stiles running toward him. 

“What are you doing?” Skylar asked him urgently. “Why did you come here?”

“Because you asked me to,”

“I asked you…” She trailed off, confused. He pulled out his phone and showed her the message from earlier. He grew concerned as Stiles and Skylar looked at the text with utter bafflement.

“Why do I get the feeling you didn’t send that message?” Arthur asked, dread pooling in his stomach.

“Because I didn’t,” Skylar answered grimly.

“Did you drive here?” Stiles asked Arthur.

“Jackie did,”

“Jackie’s here, too?” Skylar questioned rhetorically, incredulous.

“And Lyall,” He frowned. “What’s going on? Who sent this text?” Arthur’s phone rang again and he picked up. “Where are you?” Jackie and Lyall hurried from around the corner.

“ _Finally_ ,” Lyall groaned. “Can we _go_ now?” Before anyone could speak, they heard an odd rumbling above them.

“ _Run!_ ” Skylar spun, pushing them forward as something burst out of the ceiling panels behind them. 

~

The doors to the cafeteria slammed open, five frightened teenagers rushing in.

“Skylar, wait!” Stiles said. “Not here,” But Skylar wasn’t listening. Swinging the doors closed, she spun back to search for a way to barricade them in. 

“The vending machine,” Skylar pointed. “Help me push it in front of the doors,”

“What was that?” Arthur asked, panicked. “Skylar, what was that thing?”

“What happened to the ceiling?” Lyall questioned, finally breaking free of the indifferent annoyance he had been shrouded in all night. Skylar didn’t answer, concentrating all her efforts into shoving one of the vending machines forward. 

“Just help me!” She insisted. Jackie and Arthur got behind it as well, sliding it against the doors. Skylar’s panic seemed to infect them all, heightening the fear among the group. “Stack the chairs,”

“Guys, hold on-” Stiles tried. Even a terrified Lyall helped, pushing chairs forward, moving as fast as he can. “Can we just _wait_ a second?” Jackie and Arthur grabbed chairs, stacking them, everyone rushing to blockade the doors. Everyone except for Stiles. “Okay, nice work. Beautiful job, everyone. Now, what do you think we should do about the _twenty-foot wall of windows!_ ” Stiles shook her hands at the field of glass to his right. Skylar and the others looked up. She made a good point.

“Can someone _please_ explain what’s going on?” Arthur begged, hysterical. “I’m freaking out here and I’d at least like to know why,” Skylar didn’t respond. Didn’t even look at him.

“Someone killed the janitor,” Stiles told them.

“ _What?_ ” Lyall yelled, shocked.

“The janitor’s dead,” Stiles looked at them.

“What is she talking about?” Arthur asked, turning to Skylar. “Is this a joke?” The Latina shook her head.

“Who killed her?” Jackie asked.

“No, no, no. This was supposed to be over,” Lyall muttered. “The mountain lion-”

“Don’t you get it?” Jackie snapped. “There _is_ no mountain lion,”

“Who is it? What do they want? What’s happening?” Arthur’s terrified questioning made Stiles look to Skylar for help, but her friend almost seemed to be shutting down. Just shaking her head, no idea what to say while Arthur and the others become more panicked.

“I-I don’t know,” Stiles answered hesitantly, pulling a shard of glass out of her hair. “I-I just - If we go out there, she's gonna kill us,”

“ _Us?_ ” Lyall questioned. “She’s going to kill _us?_ ”

“Who?” Arthur inquired. “Who is it?”

“Derrine,” Skylar lied. “It’s Derrine Hale,” All eyes turned back to her in shock. Especially Stiles. Skylar looks almost surprised at saying it herself.

“ _Derrine_ killed the janitor?” Jackie confirmed.

“You’re sure?” Arthur looked at the two girls.

“I saw her,” Skylar nodded, cringing on the inside as she realized that this was going to come back and bite her and Stiles in the ass. But they had to think quickly.

“The mountain lion-”

“No,” Skylar interrupted Lyall, shaking her head. “Derrine killed them,”

“ _All_ of them?”

“Starting with her own brother,” Skylar informed.

“The bus driver?”

“And then the lady in the video store. It’s been Derrine the whole time,” Skylar looked at them. “Ahe’s in here with us. And if we don’t get out, she’s gonna kill us too,”

“Call the cops,” Jackie demanded.

“No,” Stiles immediately shot her down.

“No?” Jackie questioned, incredulous. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I mean _no_ ,” Stiles sassed. “You wanna hear it in Polish? _Nie!_ ” She looked around at the other teens. “Look, Derrine’s already killed four people and managed to make it look like animal attacks. We don’t know what she’s armed with,”

“Your _mom_ is armed with an entire sheriff’s department,” Jackie pointed out. “ _Call her!_ ”

“ _I’m_ calling,” Lyall said, pulling out his phone and holding it to his ear.

“Hold on, Lyall, wait-” Stiles started forward, but Jackie pushed her back. 

“Yes, we’re at Beacon Hills High School. We’re trapped in here and we need you to-” Lyall paused. The others watched his expression change to one of surprise. He slowly pulled the phone away from his ear. “He hung up on me,”

“The _police_ hung up on you?” Arthur inquired incredulously.

“He said they got a tip warning them that there are gonna be prank calls about a break-in at the high school,” Lyall told them, stunned. “He said if I called again that they're gonna trace it and have me arrested,”

“Okay, then call again,”

“No,” Stiles disagreed. “They won’t trace a cell phone. They’ll send a car to your house before they send someone here,”

“What the…” Arthur stared, dumbfounded. “What is this? Why does Derrine want to kill us? Why’s she killing anyone?” They all turned to Skylar for an answer.

“Why’s everyone looking at me?” She asked.

“Is she the one who sent Arthur that text?” Lyall questioned.

“No - I mean,” Skylar sighed. “I don’t know,”

“Is she the one who called the police?” Arthur inquired. 

“ _I don’t know_ ,” She snapped, frustrated, and Arthur flinched noticeably. Stiles got in between them to pull Skylar aside. 

“Alright, let’s just…” Stiles sighed. “Just ease back on the throttle here,” She took Skylar over to the kitchen area of the cafeteria to talk to her privately. “First of all,” She said under her breath. “Throwing Derrine under the bus? Nicely done,”

“I panicked,” Skylar told her anxiously. “I had to say _something_. And if she’s dead, it doesn’t matter. Unless she’s not…” The werewolf started to fall apart, the stress of the night catching up with her. “Dios mío, I totally just bit Arthur’s head off,” 

“And he’ll totally get over it,” Stiles responded, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “Bigger issues at hand here - like, how do we get out alive?”

“But we _are_ alive,” Skylar pointed out. “She could’ve killed us already. It’s like she’s… cornering us,”

“What?” Stile asked incredulously. “Like she wants to eat us all at the same time?”

“No,” Skylar shook her head, thinking. “Derrine said she wanted revenge,”

“Against who?”

“Arthur’s family?” She suggested.

“Maybe that’s what the text was about,” Skylar shot Stiles a look. “ _Someone_ had to have sent it,” She defended.

“So while loping through the woods she stops to take out her Blackberry?” Skylar scoffed.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Stiles admonished, pouting. “ _I’m_ the sarcastic one in this friendship,”

“Okay, assheads, new plan,” Jackie called out. “Stiles calls her useless mom and tells her to send someone with a gun and decent aim. We good with that?” No one spoke up to disagree.

“She’s right,” Skylar told her best friend. “Tell her the truth if you have to, just call her,”

“I am _not_ watching my mom get eaten alive,” Stiles protested, and Jackie stepped past the others, charging at Stiles.

“That’s it!” She yelled. “Give me your phone!” She spun Stiles around, grabbing for the phone in her pocket. But in a moment of pure instinct, Stiles reeled back and punched Jackie, sending her sprawling to the floor. Strangely, Lyall wasn’t the one running to help her up - it was Arthur.

“Jackie!” The brunet gasped. “Are you okay?” While she was turned around, he couldn’t see the look on her face. And despite having been punched, she was smiling, silently pleased by the turn of events. She slowly gazed back, feigning shock and hurt. Seeing Arthur covering his territory, Lyall seemed to snap back to life and hurried over to help. Cradling her shaking hand, Stiles looked to Skylar, who was just as surprised. Then, with the hand not trembling in pain, Stiles reached into her pocket and fished out her cell phone. As the others watched, she dialed.

“Mom, hey, it’s me,” She started, voice shaking a bit. “and it’s your voicemail. Um... I need you to call me back. Like now. Like right now -” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “We’re at the school, mom, and -” Something slammed into the doors, cutting Stiles off, and Lyall screamed as Arthur retreated to his seat.

A stack of chairs tumbled down as the barricade against the doors began to fall. Stiles lowered the phone, backing away with the others. Something hammered at the doors. Smashing at them, desperately trying to break through to the teenagers on the other side of the barrier. The vending machine slid forward. A chair whipped past Arthur and he screamed, hands coming up to shield his head.

“Oh my God,” Lyall moaned lowly, shaking with terror. The hinges at the top of the doors began coming out of the wall, the metal seeming to bend and collapse inward. Stiles got an idea.

“The kitchen,” She told the others. “The door out of the kitchen leads to the stairwell,”

“Which only goes up,” Skylar pointed out.

“Up is better than here,” Stiles argued. With another loud bang on the doors, the teenagers all looked at each other and simultaneously made the same decision. They ran for the kitchen.

~

The stairwell door slammed open and Skylar and the others spilled out into the second-floor hallway. They tried doors. All locked. Until Lyall found an open one and they hurtled into a Chemistry lab, quickly and quietly shutting the door. Skylar grabbed the teacher’s chair and fit it under the knob as they heard the stairwell door slam open. Everyone backed away to the wall where they couldn’t be seen at the window of the door, each holding their breath. Jackie, Lyall, Arthur, Skylar, and Stiles all pressed to the wall in terror. Closest to the door, Skylar slowly leaned out from the wall. Stiles grabs at her, trying to get her to pull back. But Skylar cocked her head, listening... 

She heard the click of claws against the tile floor. The creature coming closer and closer. The door rattled from the weight of its approach. Lyall covered his mouth with his hands, trying not to shriek as a breath steamed the window at the door. And then... It moved on, the sound of its lumbering body dissipating. After a moment, the kids breathed. But no one moved. 

“Jackie,” Skylar whispered, eyes still trained on the door. “How many people can fit in your car?”

“Five if someone sits on someone else’s lap,” The girl whispered back.

“ _Five?_ ” Arthur eyed her, incredulous. “ _I_ barely fit in the back,”

“It doesn’t matter,” Stiles told them “There’s no _way_ we can get out of this without drawing attention to ourselves,”

“What about that?” Skylar asked, eying the steel door behind the teacher’s desk. It leads to the roof. We could go down the fire escape to the parking lot in seconds,”

“It has a deadbolt,” Stiles pointed out.

“The janitor has a key,”

“You mean her _body_ has a key,” Stiles corrected.

“I can get it,” Skylar leaned in closer to whisper to Stiles. “I can find her by scent. By blood,”

“Well, gee, that sounds like an incredibly _terrible_ idea,” Stiles whispered back furiously. “What else you got?”

“I’m getting the key,” Skylar announced to the others.

“Are you serious?” Arthur questioned, feeling a bit like his girlfriend was definitely insane.

“It’s the best plan we have,” The Latina shrugged. “ Someone has to get the key if we want to get out of here,”

“You can’t go out there unarmed!” Skylar grabbed the teacher’s pointer from the chalkboard, gripping it like a baseball bat, then noticed their looks. 

“It’s better than nothing,” She pointed out to them.

“There’s _gotta_ be something else,” Stiles said, praying that there really was something else.

“There is,” Lyall nodded to the cabinet of chemicals.

“What’re we gonna do, throw acid on her?” Came Stiles’ incredulous question, and Lyall sighed, rolling his eyes.

“ _No_ ,” He emphasized. “Like a firebomb. In there is everything you need to make a self-igniting Molotov Cocktail,”

“A self-igniting…”

“Molotov Cocktail,” Lyall snidely finished Stiles’ dumbfounded half-sentence. “What?” He inquired as he noticed the others staring at him. “I think I read it somewhere,”

“Well, we don’t have a key to that either -” Jackie interrupted Stiles by sending her foot smashing through the glass of the chemical cabinet. 

~

Moments later, several bottles lined the teacher’s desk. Lyall poured one bottle into a mixture already in a glass beaker.

“Jackie, hand me the sulfuric acid,” She turned each bottle, looking for the right one, then carefully handed it to Lyall.

“No,” Arthur shook his head. “No, this is insane. You can’t do this! You _cannot_ go out there!”

“We can’t just sit here and wait for Stiles’ mom to check her messages!” Skylar argued.

“You could _die!_ ” He pointed out. “Don’t you get that? She has killed _four people_ , Skylar!”

“And _we’re_ next,” Skylar shot back. “Someone has to do _something!_ ” Turning, she eased the chair out from under the doorknob.

“Skylar, just stop!” Arthur demanded tearfully. “Remember how you told me that you’d know whether or not I was lying? That I have a tell? Well, so do you,” Skylar shot him a look. “You’re a _terrible_ liar. And you’ve been lying all night,” The others listened behind him, watching with evident discomfort as Skylar almost responded with another lie but decided to keep her mouth shut at the last second. “Don’t leave us,”

“Lock it behind me,” Skylar requested with a sigh. But before she could turn, Arthur stepped forward. As the others watched, he pulled her toward him, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss of pure pleading. Skylar gently eased back and broke the kiss. With a look of torture on her face, she turns and went out the door. It clicked shut behind her.

~

The door to the darkened stairwell eased open. All too aware of his own frightened gasps, Skylar stepped inside and peered down. No sign of movement. She began taking the steps one-by-one, inching her way back to the first floor. Skylar stepped around the corner, breathing the air in, cocking his head, and catching a scent.

~

Two double doors quietly clicked open, allowing Skylar to step into the school’s commodious gymnasium. The large, wide-open space was lit only by the emergency lights mounted over the two exits. Clutching the Molotov Cocktail in her hand, Skylar took a breath of the air, her head turning toward the telescope bleachers against the wall. 

She made her way over. But instead of climbing up, she stepped around and underneath the bleachers. Feeling her way through the underside of the bleachers, she slowly peered up to discover something hanging in the shadows above. The keys hung from her body, which itself hung from the metal supports cross-hatching the underside of the bleachers.

~

Stiles, Lyall, Jackie, and Arthur sat lined up against the wall, waiting for Skylar’s return. 

“I don’t get this,” Arthur whispered. “I don’t get _any of this!_ I can’t... I can’t get my hands to stop shaking. My hands -”

“It’s okay,” Jackie soothed. Stiles turned, hearing the whispers. She glanced to Lyall, who seemed strangely calm. Almost like he’s determined not to be frightened anymore. When she looked at him, she realized that she didn’t feel the same rush of red-hot emotion anymore. Sure, she still liked him in a less-than-platonic way, but she didn’t feel like she was _in love_ with him anymore. The werewolf thing had changed her. Maybe her feelings were changing, too. Meanwhile, Jackie leaned closer to Arthur.

“I can’t stop shaking,” He muttered.

“It’s all going to be okay,” She put her hands over his and let their fingers intertwine, trying to keep him calm while her eyes lingered over him just a bit too long.

~

Skylar gently set the Molotov Cocktail down on the floor. She reached for one of the metal supports underneath the bleachers. Stepping gingerly up, she began to climb, making her way toward the keys, which hung from the janitor’s belt. After one last step, she stretched her arm, trying to grasp at the keys when a clunking sound made her stop. She held still, eyes darting to the shadows. Then, she cocked her head to listen. But there was nothing. She reached up again for the keys when another clunk caused the supports to shudder. 

Turning back, she saw what the source of the sound was when the bleachers started collapsing inward. Someone or something was pushing the seats in from the gym floor, causing the bleachers to telescope in on her. With a well-aimed swipe, Skylar snatched the keys off the body. She jumped back to the floor between the bleachers and the wall and hurtled for the light just beyond. But the bleachers closed in fast, threatening to crush in on her as she made one last leap. She grabbed the Molotov Cocktail on the floor and tumbled out to safety.

~

“Jackie, you handed me the sulfuric acid, right?” Lyall asked worriedly, glancing at the bottles on the teacher’s desk. “It _has_ to be sulfuric acid. It won’t ignite if it’s not,”

“I gave you _exactly_ what you asked for tonight,” Jackie glared tensely. She stared at him, unblinking. An unnerving stare. Lyall looked back at the bottle.

“Yeah,” He answered fakely. “Yeah, I’m sure you did,”

~

Standing at the edge of the collapsed bleachers, Skylar shakily raised the Molotov Cocktail. 

“Come on!” She taunted. “Come get me!” Something came rushing forward as Skylar hurled the cocktail and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the fiery explosion. But all she heard was breaking glass. She snapped her eyes open to see harmless chemicals spilling across the floor. “Mierda,” 

Something latched around her ankle and dropped her right to the floor. The keys tumbled out of her grasp as she was hurled to the center of the gym. A clawed hand clamped down on the side of Skylar’s head, pushing her face to the floor. The tips of the claws poked into her cheek, threatening to draw blood as her eyes opened wide. 

The alpha’s profile eased down toward Skylar’s face, sharp teeth jutting from her open mouth. She let loose a powerful, earth-shaking roar. Pinned and helpless, Skylar’s eyes suddenly blazed with a golden glow as if in response to the alpha’s roar. She opened her mouth, teeth now fanged.

~

The others turned to hear the echoes of the bizarre sound coming from the school below. All except for Jackie, who fell to her knees, wincing in pain. Then she was screaming. Hand clutching the back of her neck, she crumbled to the floor as the others whirled around to see her lurching in pain.

~

Skylar twisted up, the alpha no longer holding her down, no longer anywhere in sight. Eyes gold, she cried out as she transformed into a werewolf. But brought on this time by the alpha’s howl, the shift was agonizing, her body wracked with spasms of pain, clawed hands pressing, almost digging into the floor. 

Her head whipped up as the transformation completed. But something was different. Teeth bared, an animalistic pulling back of his lips, it’s as if innocent Skylar McCall had disappeared completely. Nowhere to be found behind the gold eyes now searching the shadows for something to kill.

~

“I’m fine,” Jackie insisted as Arthur and Lyall pulled her to her feet. “Seriously, I’m okay,”

“That didn’t sound okay at all,” Arthur disagreed.

“What’s on the back of your neck?” Stiles asked, frowning, as Jackie’s hair fell out of the way and Stiles got a glimpse of the usually-hidden skin.

“I said I’m fine,” The blonde brushed off irritably.

“It’s been there for days and she won’t tell me what happened,” Lyall said, approaching his girlfriend.

“As if you actually _care_ ,” She scoffed. Stiles stepped in between the feuding couple.

“Can we not argue for just… half a second here, guys,”

“Where’s Skylar?” Arthur questioned. “She should be back by now, shouldn’t she?” He didn’t see the silhouette moving behind the door.

~

Amid a flurry of police activity in the school parking lot, Sheriff Stilinski talked with Skylar and Stiles.

“You’re sure it was Derek Hale?” Skylar nodded. Stilinski turned to her daughter for confirmation.

“I saw her too,” Stiles told her.

“What about the janitor?” Skylar asked, almost desperately.

“We’re still looking for her,” The sheriff answered.

“You looked under the bleachers?” The Latina confirmed. “ _Under_ them?”

“There was nothing there, Skylar,” Stilinski sighed. “We pulled them out, just like you asked. Nothing,”

“I am _not_ making this up,” She told her best friend’s mother defensively.

“I know,” The woman assured. “I believe you, I do,”

“No, you don’t,” Skylar looked at her sadly. “You have that look. Like you feel bad for me, like you _want_ to believe me, but you don’t,”

“Listen, we’re gonna search this whole school,” Sheriff Stilinski promised the two girls. “We’ll find her,”

“Sheriff!” A deputy called out. “Sheriff, we need you over here!”

“Stay,” She looked at the teenage girls. “Both of you,”

“We survived, dude,” Stiles turned to Skylar, beaming. “We outlasted the alpha. That’s still good, right? Being alive?” Skylar shook her head, sitting down on the school steps.

“We were in the Chemistry room and she walked right by us,” Skylar pointed out. “You really think that it didn’t hear us? That it didn’t know _exactly_ where we were?”

“Then how are we still alive?” Stiles frowned.

“She wants me in her pack,” Skylar told her. “But first she wants me to get rid of my old pack,”

“What do you mean?” Stiles asked. “What old pack?”

“Arthur, Lyall, Jackie… _you_ ,” 

“ _The alpha_ doesn’t want to kill us,” Stiles realized.

“She wants _me_ to do it,” Skylar finished. For once, Stiles was lost for words, unable to respond. “And that’s not even the worst part,”

“How in the holy _hell_ is that not the worst part, Sky?” Stiles questioned, exhausted and incredulous.

“Because when she made me shift… I _wanted_ to do it,” Skylar answered, still feeling sick. “I wanted to _kill_ you. All of you,” 

As the words sank in on Stiles, Skylar glanced past her. A look of shock came to her face. Stiles followed Skylar past officers and crime scene technicians to an ambulance where someone was being checked out by an EMT. Deaton looked up.

“There you are!” She looked at the girls.

“How…” Skylar was stunned. “How did you…”

“Get out?” Deaton finished, smiling. “Not easily. And from what they’ve been telling me, I’m alive because of you,” She raised an eyebrow at Skylar. “I think I owe you a raise,” The sheriff approached, gently pushing Skylar back. 

“We’ll let you talk to her later,” Stiles’ mother said. “Give the EMTs a chance to look her over,” Skylar stepped back with Stiles, both still looking at Deaton. But her attention was grabbed by someone else hurrying between police cars.

“Arthur?” Skylar called out. He glanced back to see her hurrying after him. “Are you okay?” She asked, finally catching up.

“My mom’s on her way,” He nodded.

“Do you need me to do anything?” She asked. “Want me to come back with you -”

“No, I don’t,” The words came quickly. “And I also don’t know what happened to you in there. I don’t know what you were thinking,” He shook his head. “Maybe you weren’t. But right now... I don’t feel like I trust you,”

“I can explain,”

“I don’t care,”

“Okay. Don’t say anything else. Please. Just don’t say anything yet,” 

“Skylar -”

“Stop. Please. Don’t say anything,” Skylar begged. “Stiles’ mom is taking me home. I gotta make sure my dad isn’t freaking out. And then I’m going to get a new phone first thing in the morning -”

“Skylar -”

“I’m gonna get a new phone and I’m gonna give you a call -”

“Don’t,” Skylar opened her mouth to speak, but the response wouldn’t come. Just a short, agonized breath. Almost like a gasp of pain in anticipation of the words she knew were coming. “Don’t call,” He told her. “Just don’t,” And he turned. Walking away from her. Leaving her alone under the flashing red and blue police lights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stiles being fluent in Polish is one of my biggest headcanons, honestly, so I'm sorry I changed that iconic scene, but I'm really not. I also headcanon that Scott speaks Spanish, so that's in here too.
> 
> One thing I've noticed about this episode - they kept saying that "he's killed three people!", but four people were killed. They even mentioned all four of them! Laura, the bus driver, the clerk, and the janitor. 
> 
> I also don't really get why Allison was mad at Scott. Like, she came up with a plan to get away from the muderer trapping them in the school. Maybe she didn't like it, but it wasn't like they had any other ideas. They had to do something. I don't think that's really something worth being that angry over.
> 
> In other news: I'm really excited because my mom is getting married and she asked me to be her maid of honor!

**Author's Note:**

> So, I hope you enjoyed. Please leave me comments, I love constructive criticism and/or compliments or even just observations! I'm not picky!
> 
> Grammarly and autocorrect are my betas, and sometimes they slack.
> 
> I used https://teen-wolf-pack.fandom.com/wiki/Wolf_Moon/Transcript because I can never keep up when I'm watching the show and trying to write at the same time.


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